The Artefacts of the Ancients
by Mune Tetsujin
Summary: It is thought that a weakwilled person can easily fall into the hands of greed, a strong power that can easily overtake the soul of that person. This leads to a possible fall into great evil. And yes Artefacts is spelt that way for a purpose.
1. The Start of the Road

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own the fire emblem series or in anyway present that I do. But I do own rights over all original Characters presented thus far._

_**Author's Note: **This is an orriginal story created by some friends that we decided to share with you. The story is intended on makeing a finish. We just want some reviews before we move on too fast. _

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**The Artefacts of the Ancients**

**Chapter 01:****  
**

**The Start of the Road**

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Kezuro, the current Marquis of Iuria, the fastest growing city in the world, had always been a failure in the eyes of his father in every way. His thin, frail frame has been a mainstay of his physical description. When he was a child, his father, then the Marquis, sent Kezuro to be trained under a master swordsman, an old warrior, Keido by name. However, Kezuro's skill with a blade was laughable, and he suffered mockery at the hands of those he trained alongside. Keido even gave him extra training, but he failed the course much to his father's disappointment.

It didn't take long for Kezuro to coax his father into taking him out of Keido's training system, and he then devoted all of his time to learning about tactics and politics, in the hope that he would be a good ruler of Iuria when he succeeded his father. He hoped to be just and good to his people, just like his old man. All of his study of battle strategy couldn't teach him that. Knowing this, slowly, gradually, bitterness grew deep in his heart. He couldn't stand knowing that his flaws could bring down the city of Iuria.

He soon became enveloped in his study. He felt that it was all he had, since his parents seemed to aim more affection at his younger brother Asura, a strong, quick-witted, charismatic young man, a natural leader. He was the perfect candidate for a Marquis, but Kezuro was older, he would be next in line. The people loved Asura, and hated Kezuro. Jealousy brewed inside him like a storm.

His father fought as hard as he could for years against old age and illness to ensure that his son would not be the Marquis. He would rather live under the strain of disease than see his son wreck his work. It wasn't that he didn't love his son, but he knew that Kezuro wasn't bold enough to be Marquis. He would bow down to any attack and allow any assailant to take over the city. His city. If only he could pass the torch down to Asura… After he died, the region entered a period of collapse. Iuria was now led by a jealous, pathetic man.

On his first day as Marquis, he took into employment more guards than ever. Some saw this move as caution and protecting the city, but many knew he was hiding. No-one would go near the fortress he ruled from, as every battlement housed soldiers. Every door was guarded. To attack this place would be tactical suicide.

One day, he called those who trained with him under Keido to the castle at Iuria. They entered the gates, and met the new Marquis of the region. In a quiet, understated voice, he called for 'a guard'. The now-warriors soon found themselves encircled by the palace's guards. Kezuro did not make a command. This had been a pre-planned attack. The guards moved in, the circle around the warriors diminishing.

Never were the warriors seen again, and such was the evil that had already overcome Kezuro.

---

The placid, wooded area sheltered Arashi Arekusu's house from the furore of the world around it. Recently, armed gangs of swordsmen had been moving around Akaseki, seemingly scouting the area for something. In fact, they were looking for the hidden glade where her house was.

Arashi's brother, Reishi, was the Marquis of the nearby capital city, Akaseki. Reishi had the most efficient army, the greatest resources around were all in Akaseki, and the popularity of the people. The plans of Marquis Iuria would come of nothing unless he could avoid or destroy Akaseki. Reishi knew Kezuro through training together under an old warrior, and was unsure of Iuria's new leader. He was dangerous and Reishi remembered him as a invidious, sly person at their training school.

Outside the small cottage, Arashi was training with her magic, casting her spells at trees and small targets she had set up. She knew a little curative magic, but her main skill was in a form of dark magic, where the caster uses the shadows of the arena of battle to fight. In dark places, her magic was much more powerful.

From nowhere, two mercenaries carrying swords appeared, with a mage carrying a tome behind them.

"Mercenaries… Who do you serve?" Arashi asked.  
"You think we'd tell you?" the mercenaries laughed, "Anyway, you're just a little girl. You will comply and aid our master."

Arashi quickly mumbled a spell, casting Demon Drain, forcing health to be drained out of an enemy into the shadows cast by the sun's rays over the forest. This spell allowed her to then take the power out of the shadows to heal herself if need be, but for now, she just kept the power in the shadows, as she had other plans for them.

Arashi lifted her staff just as the swordsmen came towards her, and she called the shadows to form a humanoid shape – Shadow's Protection. This was one of her better powers, as the shape not only stood between her and the mercenary, but it attacked both mercenaries violently, cutting them down viciously. The shadow then moved back under the trees into nothingness.

The mage that remained charged at Arashi. Staffs clashed on one side of the forest's clearing. Arashi called her protective shadow back into action. With one slice of its blade, the mage fell. It really was too easy. However, the next thing Arashi knew, a dark robed figure appeared.

"Arashi Arekusu. I am Kezuro, Marquis of Iuria. I wish to talk to you about your brother. He is the only one who can stop me from getting what I want. I wish to change that. And you will help me, since you shall be my ransom. Then, Reishi will take notice of me as a worthy adversary!"

Behind him, a magician and three soldiers warped into the clearing. Kezuro snarled

"Soldiers, get those two".

The magician threw a fireball at the house, which exploded into flames. The soldiers followed Arashi, but they soon couldn't keep up and returned to Kezuro.

"I am sorry, Lord Kezuro, but she escaped."  
"Fine, let us go. I know exactly where she will be, and I'll strike that place when the time comes. Being stuck in the castle, wrapped up in trying to fit the royal mantle he assumes, her brother's no longer there to save her. I however have no time for the royal side of leading." Kezuro chuckled arrogantly. The warriors warped away first, followed by Kezuro.

Arashi arrived at Akaseki Castle. She was pleased that the mercenaries did not give chase, or she may have struggled much more with getting here. When she reached the castle gates, she found a warrior, who looked roughly around Arashi's age at about 20, asking to get in. The guards refused each time he claimed that he had to see Marquis Reishi Arekusu of Akaseki.

"Excuse me, who are you?" Arashi asked.

"I am Asura Ignius, brother of Kezuro, Marquis of Iuria. I come in peace, but I require aid. I need to stop my brother. His greed has claimed him. Please, can you help? I know that Akaseki has many strong warriors. I too can fight, but can't do this alone. I came to Akaseki since I know that Marquess Akaseki is worried about Kezuro. So am I." Asura asked.

"We shall gather some warriors and discuss peace terms." Arashi said quietly.

"Thank you…"

Two hours later, Reishi had been told Asura's story, and a notice had gone around the town. 6 warriors needed to aid Asura Ignius on a personal mission. In that castle, there was a sense of excitement. Reishi's most trusted spy, Kaitou, under Reishi's orders, had armed Arashi with his skills of concealment for her safety and advised both Arashi and Asura on how to get to Kezuro.

"Thanks, Kai. Now we have to do what we can," Arashi replied, "but first, we need to get more warriors."

"Arashi, could you ask around at the inn? I'll talk to a few contacts, see what I can come up with." said Reishi.

The next day, Asura and Arashi walked to the largest inn in Akaseki, meeting inside a group of warriors.  
"Looks like we've got a good group, Arashi" said Asura, as he inspected the group of warriors. It was the girl who spoke first.  
"Hi. I'm Rynna Ichiko from Miran. What's the job?" she said.  
"A discussion of peace terms in Iuria. If things go wrong, we need warriors." Asura replied.  
"Rynna, I think its best to leave what the job is to the lords here. I'm Kage. Like Rynna, I hail from Miran, Lady Arashi."  
"Kage, nice to meet you. However, please don't treat us any differently as any other warriors. The whole nobility thing doesn't suit me." Arashi replied.

"So, are we leaving soon? My wyvern's out the back. He could do with a good flight." one of the men stated bluntly.  
"You have a wyvern? Hmm, that could be useful. What's your name?" Arashi asked.  
"The name's Varlen. And who are you…?" the man replied.  
"Hey, excuse me. If you wanna get going, why not cut out chasing the sister of this city's Marquis? Look, short introduction. I'm Blade Hakashi. Nice to meet you two," a clearly short-tempered man said, "Can we get going now?"  
"Yes, definitely," Asura replied, "First, we plan to go to Iuria itself and see whether we can't talk to Kezuro and end this before we begin. Obviously this is quite dangerous, so we expect to have a large fight before we begin. Everyone ready?"

The group walked out of the inn and began the trek across a large plain. As soon as the group moved through the giant red gates leading out of Akaseki, they could already see Iuria just ahead of the horizon – the two cities' proximity, coupled with their status as the capitals of their Empires, signified their rivalry.

They walked for most of the day, finally reaching the Empire's border. Night was approaching, and the city of Iuria was near. As they passed through the checkpoint between Akaseki and Iuria as Empires, Arashi turned to the group to announce a plan she had had.

"Asura, I know dark magic. That gives me an advantage at night, when the shadows give me a place to be concealed, and a vantage point for attack. I can move through the castle unseen and wipe out some of the guard for you. If we go as a group, we'll attract too much attention."  
"Why don't we split the group up? It's dangerous for you to go alone." Asura replied.  
"No, I'll be ok."

Arashi ran ahead, hoping to make use of the night's darkness. The others rested for a few minutes before making the last part of their short trip, entering Iuria around three quarters of an hour after Arashi.

The group walked forward from the gates into Iuria in to a grand plaza. Arashi had ran across this plaza to enter the castle earlier. They looked for an inn as night fell, while Asura and Rynna waited outside at the point where they had promised to meet with Arashi after she got back from reducing the numbers of guards ahead. Five minutes later, they heard a scream from the castle that stood proudly on the west of the plaza, projecting shadows down over the plaza itself.

---

Arashi crept silently along a passage, hugging the wall. Ahead a guard had a bow strapped to his back. He didn't notice Arashi even when she drew near due to her dark robes, shadow magic and silent movement. The guard only realised there was a problem when his whistling stopped. A shadowy figure was standing in front of him, but it had no clear features. It slashed horizontally, felling the guard. Arashi ended the Shadow's Protection spell and moved forward, her cold fingers pushing open a door that led into another stone-walled corridor. She walked down it quickly and silently, her robes billowing behind her and her feet silent on the stone floor. Suddenly, from nowhere, a great light appeared ahead of her, and a familiar face appeared, with two guards behind him. Arashi turned around and was seized by two more guards who had warped in behind her. Desperately she screamed out for help... She wished that the others were close enough to hear her.

"Ah, so now we have Miss Arashi Arekusu... My brother is surely in the city. Find him and bring him to me!" Kezuro exclaimed to the guards.

---

Rynna and Asura heard a scream. Soldiers began to flood into the plaza as Rynna entered the inn to retrieve her allies. The group prepared themselves, standing in the centre of the city's plaza as guards and soldiers poured from the castle. They were surrounded...

Two waves of soldiers found the newly-formed group sandwiched between them in the middle of the street, and, they all began to converge upon the group, running forth to commence the skirmish that was clearly about to ensue. The group ran to try and block the entry from the path into the plaza from the castle, in order to keep the numbers low. Already they had at least fifty soldiers in the plaza facing them, and a greater number trying to get to them from the castle.

Rynna and Blade met the force that was still trying to get into the plaza with a rough impact on their numbers. Blade weaved and dashed through the crowd, ducking to avoid a slash at his head only to come up into a two-bladed spin slash, disposing of eight soldiers in one sweep. Rynna on the other hand, took a more aggressive approach, dashing at the nearest enemy, before dragging the tip of her blade across her target's throat. She then sidestepped, still running, moving on to the next.

Meanwhile, Varlen, Kage and Asura were fighting those who had already come into the plaza. Varlen, due to the lack of time to call his wyvern was fighting on foot, eventually reached the path to the bridge, taking care of any straggler who came near him until he met up with the others and helped them.

"Alright then, let's do this..." Kage muttered to himself, stepping off with blinding speed into the fray, becoming a phantasm of his former being, rushing all the way through to the backmost rank, and skidding to a stop to thrust his blade behind him, piercing into a soldier's chest as he whirled around to catch sight of the rogue. Asura followed up, fighting steadily through the ranks, spending most of his time parrying blows rather than dealing them. Helping with hits every now and again, Kage cut down many of the enemies that were focusing on Asura.

"Ready for this?" With her back facing the trio fighting those in the plaza, Rynna rolled backward to avoid an attack, and, immediately recovering to her feet, whipped the Brillante into a slash at the air in front of her. The ground ripped apart and a tornado of sand travelling forward, the street apparently not wide enough to allow any room to avoid it.

Blade shot a glare towards the swirling wall of sand, and, after hastily taking care of another soldier, turned around, dropped and thrust both the Styx and Lethe into the ground to brace himself. The twenty meter tall whirlwind swept quickly through that side of the street, snatching up all who remained in its inescapable path and lifted the soldiers off the ground, whipping them around in the air like a collection of rag dolls, the sandstorm ending and depositing them harshly every which way. Upon this, the survivors of the attack, and any else who remained on either side began to retreat. Kage, although in a position to cut off the retreat, simply gave a humble bow, and the group regrouped and moved towards the distant bridge over which laid the castle.

Asura decided to quickly call the attention of the group. "Come, we must get back to the task at hand... we need to find Arashi."

The group moved forward, closer to the castle. Moving through narrow streets, it was easy to see why it is considered hard to attack the city of Iuria without being seen - the towering castle in the centre of the city being surrounded by a labyrinth of streets. As the group moved forward, they met small pockets of enemy resistance, each being two or three guards at a time easily dispatched by the various skills of the five group members.

Soon they reached a large flat area in front of the castle. The drawbridge was still down, and the area seemed empty. Cautiously, Blade and Asura fronted the group and moved closer to the bridge. However, the second they stepped on the bridge, roughly 20 soldiers filed out of the castle. The group turned to move back into the more open space, only to see that it was now filled with more guards. The only space the group could occupy was the bridge itself.

Thinking quickly, Rynna ran to the chains that pull the drawbridge up and fiercely slammed her blade into them. Following suit, the rest of the group attacked the chains, slowly wearing them down until a weakness on each side caused the chains to snap, ensuring the bridge could not be pulled up. Now they had to fight - outnumbered and in a small area, they stood back to back in a circle, their compact formation allowing few enemies to get attacks in at once.

Rynna and Blade moved to the bridge's end closest to the castle and began slicing their way through the wall of enemies. Blade's powerful grace coupled with Rynna's speed and skill combined to quickly take out a large number of enemies, but more kept coming.

Meanwhile, Kage and Asura were using their skill with blades to stop the soldiers coming towards the castle. Asura used his dexterity with his dual swords Igni and Luce, helping the group to cut down swathes of soldiers. However, still slightly outnumbered, they begin to work solely in moving away from the castle ready for a retreat. However, what they had expected to happen did not. It wasn't long before no more enemies came, and the numbers of soldiers soon started falling quickly as the group gained the upper hand.

Eventually, the final enemy fell. Exhausted, the group began climbing the seemingly endless castle. They met very few enemies as they followed the path Arashi had already taken. They could tell where she had been, as there was a lot of dark energy and slain guards in every other room. The lack of living guards unnerved the group greatly, though it meant that Arashi had done what she had set out to do. Finally, they reached a hallway with what looked like cell doors lining each wall. They looked through the gap in each one, finally finding the one with Arashi inside.

"How can we break the door?" Varlen asked, "Perhaps Rynna can use her charm on it... or on me?" This was met by a slap.

"The hinges..." Asura murmured, before charging an attack, striking the hinges of the door repeatedly with illusion-like movement. One of the hinges buckled, but the middle hinge held firm.

Asura stepped back angrily, having failed to fully break open the cell. Each warrior attempted a strike on the other hinge, and after a few attacks, it finally came loose. Blade stepped back as the door fell forward towards him, with Arashi sitting inside.

"Oh, it's great to see you! Come on, I know the way to Kezuro's study-" Arashi's attempt at telling the group where to go next was cut off by the appearance of a familiar face...

"Ah, you rescued her, my dear brother Asura. What a surprise! I didn't think you had it in you, really… Now I can kill you both. Vireo, come! Let's see how you fare against one of my Royal Guards…" A large soldier entered the room, and ran straight at Asura, knocking him with a shoulder charge. Asura fell backwards to the floor, and drew in as much air as possible before leaping up and assuming battle positions.

"Such speed and strength... But such a simple fighting style…" Blade noted.

"Watch out, there's something about that axe that gives him strength. I heard Kezuro mention it earlier…" Arashi exclaimed.

"We can beat him. Let's do this!" Varlen exclaimed.

Rynna and Varlen moved forward at the same time. Having left his wyvern outside, Varlen was in an unusual situation, fighting on foot, and the soldier, Vireo, easily knocked his attack away, before slamming his axe downwards, which Rynna almost failed to sidestep.

"Come on, we have to get out before someone gets really hurt! Let's get back to Akaseki and regroup. He'll only send more soldiers to fight us if we stay! Kezuro, it's clear you won't accept peace talks. Just don't start a war you cannot win, or Iuria will fall into ruin." Asura said, first to his group, then to his brother.

"Well done, Vireo. That's scared them somewhat…" Kezuro chuckled once the group were out of earshot.

The group ran out of the hallway, sprinting down the tower. Varlen hopped on his Wyvern and flew up and ahead of the group, but no more enemies were in sight. They were off the hook- for now, at least. Eventually, they got out of the labyrinthine town and found their way to Akaseki as the sun was rising, uninjured but confused about that man.

Reishi was waiting for them inside his quarters. As they entered, he rose apprehensively. "Arashi! You made it!"

"Yes brother, but I bring terrible news. We didn't even get a chance to talk peace terms. He sent one of his guards to attack us and we narrowly escaped."  
"Yeah, we're all here." Blade interjected. "But I say we go back there and kick that guy's ass. He may be fast, but, I've got him handled."  
"Don't be stupid," Rynna sighed. "He's just way to powerful for us at this moment…We gotta figure something out…

The group decided that resting at the palace would be the safest place, despite the fact that Marquis Kezuro would certainly know where they were. Then Arashi asked, "Are you all okay with pairing up with people to share a room?"

Arashi left, leaving the others to decide who to pair up with, and whether to go out and enjoy Akaseki's nightlife, or whether to go to sleep.

---

"Well, I think I know who I'm sleeping with tonight..." Varlen said comfortably, folding his arms behind his head with a satisfied smile on his face.  
"...I'll pass." Rynna muttered at length, knowing exactly who he was talking about. She opened one of the doors to the guest chambers and walked in, with Blade following behind.  
"Eh? And what makes you think you're so lucky?" Varlen complained, starting after him. Blade halted as soon as he cleared the doorway, tossing a glance over his shoulder.  
"Sorry Varlen, those of us who are actually GOOD fighters need to exchange techniques. Go talk to Kage or something." he explained, shutting the door behind him. Varlen stood for a moment, blinking.  
"I just... suddenly have an extreme dislike for that guy..." Kage mumbled aloud. Meanwhile, inside that same room...

Rynna undid the knot and removed her trenchcoat, sheath and all, neatly folding it in her arms and setting it down on the floor beside the bed. Blade turned around to see her daintily slide off her boots. Blade came beside her, carelessly tossed his weapons on the ground next to Rynna's neat pile, and kicked off his shoes.

"A little rude of a comment back there." Rynna broke the ice, not turning towards him, instead focusing on slipping off her gloves.  
"Oh?"  
"He's a creep, but that doesn't make that sort of thing okay." Rynna continued, kneeling to stack her gloves next to her trenchcoat.  
"Meh, I was more going for how little he helped during that last fight. He was just picking off the ones that were too scared to fight us. Besides, what's said is said, and apologising isn't my style." Blade replied, recalling the battle with clarity. He looked up after the brief thought, finding Rynna twisting the ornate knob to a door at the side of the room. "What're you doing?"

"Me? I thought I was gonna take a nice warm bath." Rynna answered simply, turning back to look at Blade, who, began approaching her.  
"Me first then. You're probably gonna take at least half an hour." he explained, trying to weave around her, only to be barred by her arm.  
"Blade. That's a baseless stereotype. Not all women take forever to-" Rynna began, only to be interrupted.  
"I'll only be five minutes. C'mon." Blade said, getting a little impatient.  
"...Whatever happened to ladies first?" Rynna questioned, now becoming annoyed.

"Lady? Could've fooled me." Blade countered, aiming to irritate her. A tough opponent to outwit, but she wasn't without weakness, Blade mused to himself. Rynna may have been something else in battle, but this Rynna, if her senses were dulled by anger and lack of concentration, would prove much easier to manipulate. Rynna powerfully delivered an open-palmed slap across his face, leaving a searing red imprint on his cheek. Blade, reeling slightly, swung back, throwing his fist forward unexpectedly and hitting Rynna in the face, sending her falling backward. She shook herself off on the floor of the bathroom, raising a hand to the bruise on her cheek.

"...You can't hit me! I'm a girl!" she shouted at him. Blade simply smirked.  
"Rynna, I thought we went over this." he let out with a chuckle. She quickly got to her feet, ready to prove that she would have the last laugh. Blade looked on in amusement as she laid her hands gently on his shoulders, but his expression changed entirely in a split second. Rynna gripped Blade's shoulders tightly, and, using them as a form of leverage, thrust her knee with unimaginable force into his groin. Blade give a shrill, short-lived cry that could be heard at least two rooms away, reminiscent of a cat in a blender, and dropped to the ground, curled into a ball, twisting his face into a grotesque visage that further expressed the excruciating agony.

Next time would be different, he vowed secretly. Never mind that he wouldn't be able to have children for at least a year. Oh yes, revenge would only taste sweeter with every second he spent writhing in pain.

"...If I said I was sorry, I'd be lying. Go ahead, you can have the bed. It's the least I could do." Rynna spat out at him, turning around and slamming the door behind her. At least he got the bed. Now if only he could get there.

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_Let me know what you think. I would love reviews and we will get more chapters up after we hear what you think._  



	2. The Artefacts of the Ancients

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own the Fire Emblem series or in anyway present that I do. But I do own rights over all original characters presented thus far._

_**Author's Note: **The story starts to pick up. Or maybe thats just what I think._**

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**

**The Artefacts of the Ancients**

**Chapter 02:**

**The Artefacts of the Ancients

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**

"This book looks like it might be the right sort of thing," Arashi decided out loud as she peered around the library of the castle with Asura, "'Ancient Magic and Weaponry'-"  
"Wait. Arashi, I've found it. Look, that's the axe that Vireo was using. It's called 'Mercury's Revenge', so named because the warrior Mercury was said to have used it to seal away an ancient evil. It is imbued with the power of water, and its one of the four Artefacts of the Ancients." Asura read.

Looking at each other, they seemed to read each other's thoughts. Finding the other artefacts may aid their aim to stop Kezuro and his guard.

"We'll start tomorrow. There's a weapon of each element. The sword 'Jupiter's Wrath' is in Iuria. I know for a fact it's guarded in a room in the castle, so we should steer clear of that one for now. It all makes sense. My brother was desperate to use the blade, but it wouldn't accept him as the wielder of it. I guess either Vireo was chosen by the Mercury's Revenge, or somehow Vireo learned how to hoodwink the axe… I never realised that the blade my brother so guarded was an Artefact of the Ancients, and the blade the ancient warrior Jupiter himself used…" Asura explained.  
"And the Mercury's Revenge is in Iuria now too. The earth-elemental weapon isn't named here... That's odd. Damn, there's no mention of the fire one either. Well, I think I'm gunna have a wash and then go to bed. What about you?" Arashi asked.

"I want to spend some time out walking around Akaseki. I haven't spent long in Akaseki before, so it should be nice. I'll be fine, don't worry", Asura added, noting Arashi's worried glance.

Asura walked out of the castle and through the streets of Akaseki. There were one or two people milling around, it was still midway through the evening and people were returning home. He decided to have a quick drink and then get back... He shouldn't stay long. However, he saw a Pegasus overhead… He knew that Pegasus. Riding it was someone knew from his travels out to the lush, green city of Ercia, which sat in the centre of a forest...

In the air, Kyari Akaro was being chased by three wyvern riders above the city of Akaseki. Tired of being followed, she pulled out her bow. Anything that flies is weak to arrow fire, she knew. Her first shot was sure. It knocked the lead wyvern rider almost off his wyvern.

" Now, let's try out this sword, see if it's worth the fighting against all those guards I had to do. I'm just lucky that the Iurian castle was attacked, or it might have been even more heavily protected" she said as she flew straight at the lead rider. As it was quite a heavy blade, she wasn't used to it and missed with her first attack. However, her second attack struck the rider himself, knocking him off the wyvern. As he fell from the sky, the wyvern turned tail and flew off. The two wyvern riders pulled away too and disappeared into the night.

"Hey! Kyari!" Asura shouted. Kyari heard the shouts and flew down.  
"Asura! It's been a long time." Kyari said as she put away her sword.  
"... Kyari... That sword. It's... Is that Jupiter's Wrath?"  
"Oh, yeah. Someone decided to attack your brother's castle, and I needed a new sword. I'm sorry to steal from your city, but let's face it, it's not like you could use it."  
"Yeah. Remember that time I tried? It only recognises one person as its true owner. You touched it and it glowed immediately but my brother forbade you from taking it. He must be so angry now. His brother attacked the castle, and his brother's friend stole the sword he hoped would one day recognise him..."  
"What? _You_ attacked your own castle?"  
"Yeah, I'll explain later. A group of my friends are staying at the castle. I'll introduce you in the morning. Come on, I'll explain on the way." Asura said as the pair climbed onto Faera, Kyari's Pegasus, and flew back to the castle.

---

Arashi woke, and looked out of the window. She saw Asura flying back to the castle on the back of a Pegasus with a girl she didn't recognise. When she got ready and went downstairs, she met Asura and his friend, with some of the group eating breakfast.

"Hi everyone," he said, "I want you to meet my friend Kyari. We've known each other for years. We met up again last night when I saw her fighting a group of wyvern riders".  
"Yeah, they were Iurian, so I was glad that Asura was here. He's explained everything, and I think I can be of use to you," Kyari continued as she pulled out her Jupiter's Wrath blade, "This is one of the four Artefacts held by Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Mercury, the ancient warriors who destroyed an evil mage who threatened this continent. I believe that a man you fought in Iuria used the Mercury's Revenge, an axe that has a similar power to this blade."

"Wasn't the Jupiter's Wrath heavily guarded? How come you got your hands on it?" Arashi asked.  
"Well, you all helped me. Kezuro had been planning for ages to use it himself, but the blade only recognises one owner, and one time, Asura and I went there to see if it might recognise either of us... Turns out it recognised me. Kezuro wasn't happy, so he tried to kick me out of Iuria so I wouldn't go near it. That's when Asura first began to oppose things that Kezuro did." Kyari replied.

"Hey there. Are you gunna join us for longer? If so, we could get to know each other better…" Varlen asked.  
"As it happens, I am joining your group. But don't think I'm going near you." Kyari replied coolly, which caused Rynna to laugh. Varlen glared angrily at her.  
"Well, at least answer me this," he replied, "Is that your Pegasus outside?"  
"Yes, it is. Her name's Faera. I hear you're a wyvern rider. I hope you're stronger than those I fought yesterday." Kyari chuckled.  
"Hmm, now we have two people who can scout ahead." said Rynna, thinking of the practical use of two flying warriors.

The group continued to eat breakfast and decided to go their separate ways for a short time, and meet up later in Miran, near where Kyari had heard that the flame Artefact, said to be a lance, was apparently hidden. Kyari and Varlen would fly ahead to Miran. They agreed that Rynna would fly on Kyari's Pegasus and Blade would fly on Varlen's wyvern. Meanwhile Kage told the group that he'd go ahead of the group alone by foot. Having said that, he set left the group and began his trip, which he knew would take a lot longer. He knew, however, that it was something he had to do.

Separate from this, Asura and Arashi were to go north to the icy city of Aufero, the capital city of its own Empire, to warn the people there, who were mainly cut off from information due to the mountain range that spread across the land, between Auferian territory and the rest of the continent, of the dangers that Kezuro posed to the other Empires.

---

Kage, used to travelling long distances quickly due to his light weight and lack of baggage, was moving across the plains almost silently.

"I'd better take a break. I'm starving." He said to himself. He soon found a rock to lean against and took a small food package from his bag. Scoffing down the food quickly, he then began to move on, enjoying the strong sun and the calming, seemingly endless plains.

---

"So... Miran huh? It's been a long time..." Rynna muttered aloud to herself, simply. Their transport glided through the air, only picking up a slight breeze compared to how quickly they were travelling. Kyari tossed her head back over her shoulder.  
"Anything you'd like to share?" the Pegasus knight offered, though it was promptly declined.  
"No, I'm fine, thanks anyway though..." Rynna excused, trailing off and looking at the desert scenery below her. A seemingly endless stretch of sandy waves shifted beneath them with the wind, and the dunes blew over to reform anew.  
"Well, if you ever change your mind, I'm right here." Kyari said politely, facing forward once more. The desert wind grew more on them, lacking any sort of current at all, when coupled with the heat of the blazing sun above, created a comfortable atmosphere.  
"...I... I don't want to go back to this place." Rynna said aloud with a firm resolution, tinged with regret and sorrow. Kyari didn't feel the need to press the issue, and Rynna continued. "...Nothing but bad memories. Nothing but bad memories..." she trailed off, repeating herself without even realizing it. Rynna shut her eyes for a moment, lost in thought.  
"...Rynna?" Kyari sounded, the air tense around them. Rynna snapped back into reality.  
"I'm fine. Don't worry about it." she excused, although, not at all convinced with her own words. They continued their journey through the skies, for only a short moment. A loud rumbling tremor surged beneath them, and the desert split open, sand falling into the abyss to signal the coming of a giant wormlike beast that snaked its way out of the ground.  
"Hmm? Looks like it's moving to attack us..." Kyari mumbled, before her eyes opened wide in shock. "Faera, evasive manoeuvres, now!" she shouted desperately as the gigantic worm beast lunged forward, merely meters away, unleashing an earth-shattering roar that blew them with little effort downward, spiralling into the sand. Kyari hit the ground, rolling down one of the tall dunes at too much of a velocity for her liking, and Rynna landed into a shoulder roll, shaking the dizziness from their sudden freefall. She stood, staring at the towering eyeless monster, and brandished the Brillante.  
"Grr... Come on Kyari, let's rock..."

Kyari climbed to a stand, and recollected herself next to Rynna, staring down their gargantuan opponent.  
"So... erm... any idea on how to fight this thing?" she questioned, gulping a pocket of air, intimidated by their foe.  
"We can't fight this battle from down here. Go, get Faera!" Rynna ordered, pushing Kyari aside with a forceful shove, and leaping into the air. The worm speared downward at them, crashing teeth first into the sand, Rynna landing unevenly on the beast's tough carapace. The worm drew back slowly for its size, although not quite to Rynna's liking. She collapsed immediately to a kneel, and, nearly slipping, thrust her blade downward into the creature, rolling off the side and cleaving a large incision across one full side of it.  
"C'mon Faera, let's go..." Kyari mumbled, climbing back to a stand, and shaking the sand from her hair. She mounted the Pegasus daintily and they immediately took to the skies, heading in the opposite direction for a moment, before ringing around to see Rynna dropping downward towards the desert. Kyari pointed forward and they swept forth with a burst of agility, Rynna catching onto the Pegasus tightly, pulling herself up onto Faera's back, Kyari struggling to fly straight. "You alright Rynna?"  
"Yeah, take me in for another pass. Straight down from above, right down the side there." she responded, instructing Kyari with a vague course of action. They swept up high into the sky, then, began a course straight towards the worm, which, looked straight upwards at them, and opening its gaping maw, jaws dripping with excessive saliva, lunged up with a snapped of its teeth. Faera dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack by centimetres at most. Rynna brandished her blade to the side as it rose, cutting into its jaw, running down the side of its mouth, and cutting a jagged bloody line across the length of the creature. Kyari yanked tightly on the reins, pulling away, and Rynna deposited herself into a roll against the sand. Something caught her attention though, that being that the sandworm split in half with a sharp shriek, but her blade didn't cut that side of the monster.  
"Wait a second..." Rynna mumbled in thought, slowly turning from the beast, her eyes locking with that of Blade, who was turning his head towards her in the same fashion.  
"You!" they shouted simultaneously, stomping towards each other, anger rising. They stopped, face-to-face, Rynna tilting her head slightly up to meet the inch or so of height difference between them. "You stole my kill!" they yelled both at once, however, broke off their glares as the earth shook beneath them, and the ground gave way into the mouth of another sandworm. Blade and Rynna fell into the gaping maw, Blade stabbing his swords into the inside of the beast's mouth. Rynna on the other hand, caught with one hand a vermillion-tinted fang. She boosted herself up into the air from her position, as the monster's teeth clenched shut. Rynna landed, each foot planted on two different teeth, the beast's maw opening slightly in one final cry of agony, Blade's infliction seemingly more lethal than expected.  
"...Humph. C'mon." Rynna let out, reaching an arm down for him, and he took it reluctantly. Rynna pulled him out, falling backwards in the process only to be caught in Varlen's arms, as he recently parked his wyvern.  
"Oh... soft." Varlen said aloud. Rynna jumped out of his grasp, preferring the sand's caress over his, as Kyari landed her Pegasus.  
"Good timing guys. C'mon, let's get outta here before more of these things show up..."

---

Arashi and Asura began trudging to the north, at first making quick progress across flat, grassy land, before reaching a forest. They moved forward but couldn't get through particularly rapidly due to the density of the trees.

"I think we've nearly got through to the other side." Arashi eventually declared after a cold hour of walking between trees that all looked basically the same. She was right, as light finally began to pour through between the trees.

Having got through the forest, they decided that they should stop and stock up in a small town by the name of Andir. They reached the town hoping to rest, but were shocked to see that some of the houses were burning. In the distance they were shocked to see a dragon overhead. Running to it, they found that many of the villagers were fighting it, but it was in vain. The dragon had killed a vast number of the small population.

Asura climbed up the back of the gigantic dragon whilst Arashi began to charge a Demon Drain attack, which sapped a small amount of health from the dragon. Effortlessly, Asura ran between the dragon's wings and quickly struck the back of its head, angering it greatly. The first hit was linked to a string of attacks from his Blade Storm ability. The dragon roared, and breathed flames directly at Arashi.

"Arashi, get out of the way!" Asura shouted. As the flames cleared away, a shadowy figure stood in the way of the attack. The shadow shattered. Arashi had cast Shadow's Protection at the last minute, but the guardian couldn't take the effect of the fire attack.

Asura leapt onto the top of the massive dragon's head, which was just about large enough for him to stand on. He plunged one of his swords into the head of the dragon, piercing skin and touching bone. The dragon roared again in pain and shook its head, throwing Asura into the wall of a small shop. Arashi tried to help, but the dragon blocked her with a wall of flames. Hope was almost gone; they had as good as lost.

Arashi rolled from a claw attack and began to change another Demon Drain in the hope that she could use the power to call another shadow to help protect her whilst she escaped with Arashi. However, the dragon focused purely on her, and no sooner had she finished the health-draining magic, the enemy lunged at her again, sending its right claw forward in hope to strike her. She fell to the ground and the attack went over her.

Arashi got up, dodged another attack quickly and turned to check on Asura, only to see that he was standing. Not only that, but Kai was packing healing salve back into his bag.

"Arashi, don't worry. We can handle this. Asura, climb onto the head again. To destroy the dragon we'll have to be careful…" he smiled.  
"How did you get here?" Arashi shouted.  
"I've been following you the whole time, just in case." Kai replied, throwing himself to the side to avoid an attack before moving behind the dragon, launching himself into a Backstab attack, dealing much heavier damage and actually affecting the Dragon. Arashi cast Shadow's Protection, sending a shadow of a swordsman forward. It attacked doing very little damage, and nearly got trampled on, but it bought Asura the time to scramble onto the dragon's head and damage further the great wound Asura's Igni and Luce blades had caused earlier.

Once he had taken the dragon's focus, Kai leapt up to the dragon's chest and stabbed his Ra'keth dagger, a keepsake of the family, deeply into the dragon's hide. He ran back as the dragon finally fell.

"Wow, thanks Kai. We were nearly done for then." Asura beamed.  
"What do you mean? He could have helped us so many times over... In Iuria, against Vireo. You said you've been following us the whole time! Why the hell didn't you help?" Arashi raged.

"Well, look at what you've achieved. Iuria's army has been cut down by about a third, if not more. Your attack got your Pegasus Knight friend one of the Artefacts of the Ancients, which honestly, I knew nothing about. Kezuro is thoroughly shaken by the fact you got so far. If I had have been there, you would never have been able to see what you can do as a team" Kai replied. Arashi could only accept this as the truth, as she knew he was right.

"Do you know anything of the Artefacts, Kai?" Asura asked.  
"I know only their locations and the fact that they only accepted one owner. When the original owners died, that's Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus, they were put in secure locations, but they soon found their ways into the wrong hands. However, even to this day, they only accept one master until he or she dies. I have a theory now on why Kezuro wants them though. If he has all four, he can get his three strongest warriors to help. Look how powerful that one you fought was. You couldn't touch him. Imagine three men of that strength, and then Kezuro, who despite not being particularly strong, is extremely knowledgeable of earth magic. I take it you don't know of the Earth Artefact? It is a now well-hidden staff once held by Venus, which brings out a great magical power in the user, and I have a feeling that Kezuro will find a way to use it even if he isn't recognised by it as his owner. Now come on, I might as well join you full-time now, in the same way that I hear Vireo did for the Mercury's Revenge. Let's rest up now and finish the trip to Aufero tomorrow, and then see if we can get back to Miran in two days time." Kai said. As the party grew to three, they worked their way through the rubble to reach the inn on the far side of town, luckily untouched by the dragon's attack.

The following morning, the group moved on to Aufero, a trip that turned out to be uneventful. However, not far outside the city, they were greeted by a tall, muscular young wyvern rider, wearing regal clothes. He was probably around 27, quite young for a royal.

"You! You match the description perfectly. I am Bane, the Marquis of Aufero. I heard that you saved at least part of Andir, a local community that has good trade with Aufero. For that, I'd like to grant you a gift. What do you need for your journey?" he asked.  
"Uh..." Kai said, shocked by the frankness of the Marquis, "Well, when we leave, we need to get to Miran very quickly. Could we get a ride on a wyvern? It'll take only a few hours compared to two days travelling that way."  
"That is all? Well, that can be done. If you need to get there quickly, I must ask why you came all the way up here to Aufero."

"We have urgent news. Prepare your armies in case of invasion. There has been great activity and skirmish in Iuria, and we have reason to worry." stated Asura bluntly.  
"Ah, but we have no reason to worry. We are allied with Iuria. We have been for a few months now." the Marquis said proudly.  
"... We still think- Wait. Is that...?" Arashi gasped. Vireo was there.  
"My master wants the blade the girl stole back. If you do not comply, I will destroy you and the rest of your group. This is your warning." he said, in monotone, before attacking Bane with a blow from the Mercury's Revenge.

He seemed to appear out of nowhere, and then disappeared as soon as he finished speaking. Angry in their powerlessness, they called to a soldier to take the Marquis to get help before taking the wyverns they were promised, and flying away, further realising how necessary it was that they became stronger to defeat Vireo, Kezuro, and stop the threat of Iuria.

---

Kyari lent Rynna a hand and pulled her up, as Blade dusted off his pants and Varlen's hands were still twitching in greed.  
"Distractions, distractions," Blade muttered, putting his weapons away. "Anyway, now that the damsels in distress are safe, can we keep going?"  
"Damsels in WHAT?" Rynna yelled, lunging forward, Kyari barely managing to hold her back.  
"Oh yeah, my bad. I just didn't wanna see Kyari get hurt." Kyari let go of Rynna and turned her head away, stifling a giggle, causing Rynna to slam into Blade, knocking him down as she planted her white boot on his neck.  
"So NOW you care about women!" Rynna asked menacingly.  
"Need we go over this again-" Blade was cut off as her boot slipped lower on his body, causing him to curl up and shut up.  
"Good." Rynna said rather pleasantly, and followed Kyari back to Faera. Blade and Varlen likewise mounted, and they kicked off, heading high into the air.

"Dude…she's so hot when she's angry," Varlen told Blade when they reached cruising height. "And that Kyari girl? Man, she's got something going on as well…."  
"Shut up and get us to Miran," Blade finally let out, fed up with Varlen's immature comments.  
"Damn it, you'd better start being nicer if you don't wanna drop half a mile down," Varlen threatened, causing Blade to let out a sigh and nothing more.

In a few hours, with the sun beginning to set, the four landed softly in a pleasant desert city resting on a plateau and decided to walk around. However, Rynna seemed slightly out of it, following the other three rather than taking the lead. "You all right?" Kyari asked again, remembering her previous conversation. Rynna didn't respond, just walking forward with her head down. "Rynna?"  
"Huh? What? Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit…tired. Worn out. Let's go," she said, putting on a smile and pulling Kyari forward into a side alley and beckoning the others to follow. They disappeared into some side door and into a surprisingly well-decorated building. It was, actually, a restaurant, and Rynna knew her way around, sitting them down in a side booth that actually had a window overlooking the desert. A waitress came over, wearing a tight skirt and sleeveless white T-Shirt.  
"Welcome to Mirage, where our food is like a dream. So today, our special is…_Rynna!_" the waitress yelled out, finally looking up from her notepad.  
"Heh, hi Lynne. It sure has been a while…"  
"Yeah, it's been so boring these past years, I didn't know you'd come back!" Lynne replied, leaning forward onto the table. "How's it been going? Still travelling for riches?"  
"Oh, it's been going well, back here on some business."  
"Oh, it's that thing again?" Lynne paused and stood up abruptly, peeling Varlen's hand off her behind and delivering an open-fist slap to his face. "How _do_ you manage to find such great company?"  
"Just my luck, I guess…so how has the temple been recently, anyway?"  
"That hellhole? Eh, temple. Yeah, not much for religion…anyway, it's been quiet lately. Please, do keep it that way? Anyway, sorry, what do you guys want? I'm sure it'll be free for you, Rynna."  
"Don't worry about it, it's free for me anyway. Right Blade?"  
"Uh, eh…Yeah," he responded, as Rynna picked up a knife and fork and glared at him. "I'll just have water though, and a burger."  
"Blade, is it?" Lynne asked, and Blade nodded.  
"Don't worry," Varlen smirked, looking at the waitress. "If this place is like a dream, then all I'd like tonight…is you."  
Without even batting an eyelash, Lynne motioned to Kyari. "Nice to meet you, and who may you be?"  
"Hi, I'm Kyari. I'll just take the same thing as Rynna."  
"The usual?" Lynne asked Rynna.  
"Yup, if you still remember. And throw Varlen over there a bone or something."  
"No problem," she smiled.

As Lynne walked out with their order, the group continued to converse their plan of action, with Rynna talking about the secrets of the temple.

---

Being the only one never taught to fly, Arashi flew on the wyvern flown by Asura. They had been flying for a couple of hours when they finally saw the start of the desert that leads to Miran.

"I can't believe that we let Vireo get away again." muttered Asura bitterly.  
"We couldn't have done anything, don't worry. I think that the best way to beat him would be to get all of our warriors, and the other three Artefacts. We may stand a chance. I can't see how he can get any stronger." Kai said.

Miran then came into sight, and the two wyverns began to swoop lower, until they hit the ground. The warriors jumped off and turned to watch the wyverns fly away.

"Now, let's find the others." Arashi said eagerly.  
"You can, but I would rather go to the inn and sleep. You two go ahead, Kai can look after you." Asura replied, yawning.  
"I don't need looking after, I'm not completely useless! Hey, if it weren't for me, the dragon at Andir would have killed you, come to think of it!" Arashi said.  
"Eh, I'll leave you to it", Kai chuckled.

Asura left for the inn and Kai turned to follow him, but lost sight amidst the crowd. Sighing heavily, he turned back to accompany Arashi to rendezvous with the others. However, he turned to see nothing. Arashi had left while his back was turned. "Oh, they're good..." he muttered to himself in disappointment.

Soon the crowd thinned and Kai deemed it safe to move about now. Being a naturally stealthy person, Kai had no liking for large crowds especially when he was already on edge. He moved through the streets almost silently and without so much as brushing against a single person. After much exploring, he came upon a small food stand. The loaves of bread on the table caused him to remember that he hadn't eaten in quite some time.

Moving like any person browsing the stand would, Kai approached the stand. The baker was preoccupied with the oven which made this task much easier. As he turned to leave, he extended a hand from his cloak and took a single loaf of bread. The baker looked up, noticing the loaf was missing. By the time his eyes began searching the crowd for the thief, Kai had melted into the shadows once again.

Kai laughed as he slipped into a back alley to eat. "Just like old times..." he spoke as if there was another person beside him. As he ate, Kai's mind wandered into the past. Memories of his friend Kurisu floated back like a dream. "Ah...if only you were here, friend..." Kai sighed.

* * *

_Some plot has shown itself... stay tuned for chapter 3._


	3. Memories of a Brother

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own the fire emblem series or in anyway present that I do. But I do own rights over all original Characters presented thus far._

_**Author's Note: **Sorry for the lack of updates... But with the lack of reviews its hard to bring yourself to work on something._

_

* * *

_

**The Artefacts of the Ancients**

**Chapter 03:****  
**

**Memories of a Brother_

* * *

_**

Asura finally reached the inn, booking a room for himself, and went straight to the bed. As he dreamed, he had a flashback, something he had forgotten...

A young Kezuro paced across the room.

"How DARE you try to take my blade? Jupiter's Wrath will one day accept me as its owner, and then I shall be able to use it. No-one, not you, nor your girlfriend, can touch it. You hear? Asura!" He almost screamed.  
"Sure, fine. I won't go near Kyari's damn sword." Asura replied.  
"... What? What did you just say? Kyari's sword? Does she possess the sword"  
"Kezuro, you saw it glow when she touched it. You know you can never use it. And why do you want it so much, anyway"  
"You know nothing. I'll get all four-"

Asura awoke, wishing he had remained asleep. He still couldn't remember what it was that Kezuro had said. Still feeling tired, he stayed on the bed, and soon fell asleep again...

"Asura, I have to go. I'm sorry, but Ercia needs me again. Your brother has attacked my city!" Kyari was crying, something she never did.  
"Look, I don't really know what to say… I'm so sorry. I'll come and defend the city with you"  
"Why don't you just help your brother? Ercia is as good as lost already! One week in charge and your brother's already moving towards war!" She said between tears.  
"I... Kyari..." She had gone.

The dream then moved on, and Kezuro and Asura were again arguing.

"Asura, you fool. If people see us two fighting, then already they will question my integrity. Anyway, we need to expand to show that we mean business. We can't get walked over, Asura. Iuria isn't a walkover. Father proved that"  
"Your integrity has already gone, Kezuro! You're going to attack a peaceful city! You'll be branded a bully unless you pull out now"  
"Move out of the way, Asura"  
"No! If you want to move your warriors forward, then fight me first." Asura boldly stated.  
"This is all because of your girlfriend. And now even she hates you. Give up, Asura, my dear brother..."

With that, Asura leapt at Kezuro and slashed downwards at him, causing a deep cut across his chest. Kezuro fell to the ground. Asura walked away, knowing that he had won and that Kezuro would not now continue his plans, humiliated before his legion of warriors. Kezuro got up, and sent his fighters back to Iuria.

Asura woke up. The occurrence in the dream had been the last time he had seen Kyari before when he met with her in Akaseki. Her mood had changed completely; she must have known what Asura had done to help save Ercia, her beloved hometown. He decided to go and find her and talk through his dream with her.

Asura walked to the restaurant where he expected the group to be, and was right. He joined them at their table and soon they had another drink before leaving. They planned to visit the Temple of Mars, believing that the weapon, probably a lance, if the stories about Mars were true, would be lying there. Not long later, Kai joined them, and having heard their plan, led them to the temple. There was no-one there, and despite having to shield their eyes from the sand that was being blown up strongly by the wind, they entered.

---

Kage soon found himself wandering down a road. He looked up ahead and saw about six men on horseback. A cloud of dust began to appear behind the riders. He could hear the sound of the heavy hooves stomping the ground as they got closer. Eventually they came right up to him, about fifteen meters away.  
The riders were heavily armoured. Their horses were coated in thick steel rings, and the riders themselves had dark blue plate armour all over them, excluding the helmet that was open-face. Each of the riders had a long lance, apart from what looked to be the leader who had a very big club that looked to be made out of some kind of bone. "You! Get off our road or prepare to die!" ordered the leader.  
"Make me." Kage frowned, taking out his blade.

The riders charged right at him. Kage picked up about twenty small rocks. He hurled them at one of the members, all of them hitting him near the stomach. All they did was leave large dents on his armour, but it slowed their charge at him.  
"Ok, now let's see..."

He quickly sprinted at the nearest bandit. He disappeared into a ghost-like figure and reappeared behind one of the bandits. He pierced the bandit's armour with his Umbra. The bandits charged him, but his blade was powerful enough to destroy the armour of the enemies, and he could quickly take out some of the horse-backed knights. He soon found the weak spot- the open space in the helmet. It was a messy method of attacking but it seemed to work. One warrior's horse took a strike, and as it fell, the warrior himself falling into a strike to the face from Kage, ripping through the metal helmet.

It wasn't long until all that remained was the leader, who gasped, raising his club and charging at Kage, the nearest target. Kage threw himself into a roll to the left, then striking upwards, killing both horse and rider in one graceful motion.

"Well... That ends that…" exclaimed Kage. "Onto Miran… I somehow can't see myself being too welcome there..." He said, before falling silent. However, emotions and thoughts swam around his head...

...My father is the head of the local Thieves' Guild. It should be a good connection, but I had to go and steal the Umbra, one of the daggers passed down to the successor of the Thieves Guild. Still, it wasn't a path I wanted to take. But I shouldn't haven taken the Umbra without leaving its brother weapon behind with my father… I really ought to go back and steal that too. Still, a thief stealing from other thieves is a crime worthy of death. And since my father will already know I am coming, I'm sure I will have to fight until I prove that I am better than the guildmaster, my father, and that will be no easy task at all.  
---

Inside the temple, there was a lit candle on a table. It barely looked like what you'd expect from a temple. There were cobwebs everywhere. The place looked unused but the candle was flickering gently. Strangely, there was an open trapdoor. Blade, pressing ahead, went over to it and jumped straight down.

"Its okay, don't worry, there's a soft landing," he shouted up, "But it's very dark. Take the candle if you can keep it lit"  
"I think we'll be okay without. Obviously the person who preceded us here got through fine." Asura said. "If not, my Luce blade can be used to light the way"  
"Well, we have two of our group who aren't used to fighting without their mounts, and I'm sure most of you would need Asura to use his blade to give any light in case we get ambushed. So why don't Kai and I go ahead? We move quickly and don't need to see in the dark to be able to know where anything is, so you follow us but stay a bit behind. We'll give you a shout if this tunnel has any danger." Arashi said.

This plan having been agreed on, the thief and the mage moved forward, the others moving slowly behind, leaving Asura's blade dimmed so that they weren't seen and left at a disadvantage in case of an attack from any enemy. The tunnel seemed endless, and they couldn't move too quickly through it.

The group continued through the long, winding underground tunnel, having come to no pitfalls yet. However, light was flooding through now, and the end was in sight. They ran to the end of the tunnel, coming into a brightly lit circular room with a floating lance in the middle, with a red, glowing force emanating from it. Torches lined the chamber, and two figures were there...

Kezuro was angry. He couldn't touch the weapon.  
"Mars' Severity will not recognise me... Perhaps I should use the forbidden magic, as Vireo did... Hmm... You!"

Behind Kezuro, a soldier stepped forward.  
"You. What's your name?" Kezuro snapped.  
"Serae, sir" the soldier replied.  
"Right. Serae, accept your fate as the new master of the Mars' Severity!"

He flung his arms towards Serae, casting a spell on him. Serae walked forward and touched the lance. It glowed,  
"That spell was the same one Vireo used, for sure." Arashi murmured to Kai.  
"I can't take this any more. He's just about to take the weapon!" Asura exclaimed. Kezuro heard him as the group ran fully into the bright room.  
"Haha, it's too late. Serae, take the weapon and kill them all!" he shouted as he warped away.

"He's not as strong as Vireo is, I can feel it." Blade said. "This is a fight we can win!"

Serae took the Mars' Severity, and unlike when Kezuro tried, it offered no resistance. He spun the lance around stylishly and went on the offensive, charging at Kai, who leapt over his head and attacked with a Backstab. However, Serae turned quickly and retaliated, knocking Kai down.

"Maybe this won't be as easy as we'd hoped, but its still worth trying..." Varlen said.

"I'll crush you!" Serae let out in monotone, spinning the lance again before thrusting it at Rynna, who spun to the right the lance barely missing her. She then thrusted her blade forward at Serae, who, with lightning fast reflexes batted it away with his lance, he then proceeding to thrust his foot forward and kick Rynna away.

"Watch Rynna, I'll show you how a REAL warrior fights." Blade called out with a smirk. Dashing forward at Serae, he thrusted the Styx forward. Serae merely sidestepped the attack and stabbed at Blade with the Mars' Severity, aiming for Blade's midsection. Blade quickly lifted the Lethe up deflecting the lance with it, the lance only causing a small slash in his shirt.

Serae then grabbed Blade by the throat and threw him into Rynna, who was just now getting up. Kyari and Varlen decided to attack together; they ran towards Serae, who threw the elemental weapon at them, the lance hurtling towards the two, they both jumped over it. The weapon continuing to fly through the air, but then Kai and Asura both knocked it down. Their opponent disarmed of his mighty weapon, the group saw the opportunity to take the enemy down.

Serae leapt forward, towards his weapon, but as it rolled along the floor, Varlen picked it up. It glowed in his hands. Varlen was the true owner of the Mars' Severity…  
"Haha, so it turns out the weapon would rather have someone who deserves it than someone who relies on magic to make them worthy, huh? I guess you can have this" he said, throwing his Requiem lance at Serae, who caught it naturally.

"No..." Serae moaned as he spun the weapon in his hands, testing it and being entirely unimpressed by Varlen's old, trusted weapon.

Even with such a weak weapon, Serae proved his strength, still being able to block efficiently and attack fairly strongly, but his power was nowhere near as high. Meanwhile, Varlen felt stronger with his new weapon, but his speed was reduced, and he often made mistakes in his attacking style with the heavier, more difficult to use lance.

Varlen persisted with his attacks from Mars' Severity, thrusting it with all the strength he could muster at Serae. Serae may have only had Requiem, but was using it to its fullest potential, artfully using its 6 feet of iron to defend against attacks as Varlen tired himself out.  
"Feeling the burn?" Serae taunted as he batted away the powerful lance a final time, causing Varlen to point it into the ground and lean on it for support, his face shining with sweat and his breath coming heavily. "Mars' Severity may have recognized you as its true owner… But that doesn't make you worthy!" He charged at Varlen, preparing to run him through with his new Requiem. However, Rynna intercepted and struck quickly, knocking Serae completely off-balance. As he flailed his arms wildly, Blade dashed forward, not needing a battle cry, seeing his opportunity.

Blade rushed up to the still stumbling Serae in an instant, lunging at him. He launched past his left side, dragging Styx across Serae's body, causing him to reel to his left with his weapon, swinging his right arm wildly. Another Blade launched from the same place, as though by magic, ripping through Serae's now undefended right, causing Serae to scream in pain. A split moment later, Blade launched forward yet again, leaping upward and slashing up and across Serae's chest, and leaving a bright scarlet line on his left cheek. In the air, Blade spun around to face Serae's back, then front-flipped to slash across Serae's back with maximum velocity and power, landing in a crouch. The other two shadows faded as Serae dropped to a knee, yelling in anguish. This anguish quickly turned to rage, and he spun around, swinging the lance at knee-height, Blade having to react quickly to jump over it. A follow-up spin came, though slower, from which Blade easily backed away, as a neat sandstorm crashed into Serae's body, knocking him back into a wall and causing him to slide down it.  
"This…isn't over," Serae managed, but he barely managed to stand back up and face the group, now hopeful and standing a chance.

Serae held his new weapon ably, it being a light weapon, but he had taken some damage, and Asura and Arashi began to fight using their agile frames and quick fighting styles to their advantage of the increasingly weary enemy. Asura's quick movements and powerful slashes was a great help in confusing and annoying Serae, as the attack was too quick for Serae to do anything about.

Kyari fired an arrow over Rynna's head as she moved towards Serae gracefully. As he focused on the swordmistress moving towards him, he didn't notice the flurry of arrows from Kyari come towards him. Then Rynna followed this up, scoring a direct hit into Serae's chest with a horizontal slash. She then leapt up as he aimed a lance attack at her, and she gracefully 'landed' on the lance for a split second, kicking it away, surprising her enemy and knocking it to the ground out of his hands.

Serae hurried to pick it up, but took a stab in the back from Kai, who then seemed to disappear, before reappearing a safe enough distance from the enemy. Moving to the enemy, attacking, then retreating seemed to be working well, as each enemy took their turn, and Serae was nearly defeated.

Blade and Rynna both moved in to secure what may have been the final hit. Blade struck first, then Rynna, then Blade with his shorter sword. Serae let out a low groan, and then Kyari fired an arrow quickly from her bow, finally mortally wounding Serae, who fell to the ground, the lance in his hands dropping to the floor.

"Rynna, did you see that?" Blade, with a sense of fake anger, turned.  
"Yeah, we both had our kill stolen!" Rynna smirked.  
"Haha, sorry. Its best to be safe though, huh?" Kyari shrugged, smiling.  
"Good work everyone. We should get to the island of Shima, where the final weapon is..." Kai said.  
"... We'll get the others; they should be in Miran now, and move south" Varlen replied.  
"Perhaps we can take a break when we get there, I remember going on holiday there when I was younger... Long sandy beaches, great weather... Yeah, I reckon we should get the weapon and relax for a bit, at least." smiled Kyari.  
"We'll have to see, but it does sound good. Come on, let's get going." Blade said. "We have Mars' and Jupiter's weapons, but they do still have the weapon of Mercury…"

---

The group picked up Kage on the Miran outskirts, who was glad to not have to enter Miran itself due to the fight that may have begun had he met his father, and moved south. After a day of travelling, the group reached the port town of Kilina.

"Well, we can certainly get a boat here." Kai said. However, 2 hours later, they were out of luck.  
"What can we do to get more money quickly?" Kyari sighed.  
"I reckon we could go to the Battle Arena. The winner of the tournament coming up gets 50000 gold, and you get money just for winning through the first round. Some of us could try it." Varlen assured her.  
"And the others could do any work the Marquis of this town may need. We should ask, at least." Kage stated.

Arashi headed off to the castle to find out if any mercenary work needed doing, as most of the group were used to this anyway, while the others deliberated on what to do. It wasn't long until they had decided.

Kai, Varlen, Kyari, Kage and Blade decided that they wanted to enter what they later heard would be a 32-warrior tournament, while Asura and Rynna were going to follow Arashi to the castle at Kilina to speak with the Marquis. The first group went to the battle arena, a circular, open-roofed building, with the sound of people cheering already. They signed up and waited around for their first fight, meeting the other warriors.

Meanwhile, the other group got to the castle, where they met Arashi, who announced that the king had indeed given them a mission.  
"Apparently, a large Iurian force is coming south. We have to go north and defeat them. We'll be outnumbered, so we must use any tactics possible. There's a steep-sided valley we could perhaps use as an ambush. Come on, let's get going!"

The group of Asura, Arashi and Rynna proceeded down the streets of Kilina in silence. It was Rynna who stirred the heads of everyone else in the group, for she had turned to her left down a different street. Before Asura could ask, Rynna simply hushed him with her own words.

"I have some things to care of. I have to get back to Miran. I'll be okay, its not a long journey to get back there. I'll meet up with you guys later..." Rynna explained, not bothering to stop before she went her own way. Asura frowned for a moment and turned, heading back towards their original destination. "...Maybe." Rynna tacked on at the end as soon as she came out of earshot of the group.

When she got there, she felt at home again. The streets were busy with merchants, but not enough to hinder Rynna's slow yet constant rate of travel. She found herself at a nearby merchant's stall, picking up a tattered black cloak and examining it carefully.

"Only 80 gold for that used piece of... erm, merchandise. Perhaps I may interest you in some finer robes..." he offered, handing her a folded peach colour cloak, which had a 600 gold price tag hanging from the corner. Rynna rubbed the weak material between her fingers, and pushed it back towards him.

"This one is fine." Rynna stated, knowing full well that it was much more durable. The merchant put the folded cloak back into its respective shelf.  
"Oh, I see, well, how about-" the man began, but held his tongue as Rynna brandished her rapier and held it at an angle to his plump throat.  
"No. This one will be fine." she repeated herself, and the merchant, face blanched a deathly white, took a thick gulp before speaking.

"Y-you can have it for free..." he managed, his heart pounding. Rynna sheathed her blade and threw the hoodless cloak on with relative ease, her appearance now rather dark with her white coat hidden by the worn garment. She found herself marching into the desert, and resolved to finish what she had started those many years ago...

* * *

_And now onto the next Chapter_


	4. The First Round

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own the fire emblem series or in anyway present that I do. But I do own rights over all original Characters presented thus far._

_**Author's Note: **The Arena is where I think the story pics up... Even though I don't see many people reading this I won't let it bring me down._

* * *

**The Artefacts of the Ancients**

**Chapter 04:****  
**

**The First Round**

* * *

Kai was nearly late for his battle in the Arena due to oversleeping. He would need to save his energy for the battle especially because it would be a straight up fight. No stealth would be used, putting Kai at a disadvantage.

Panting slightly, he arrived at the Competitor Wing of the Arena. "I'm here...when does the fight start?" Kai asked the referee. "In about...30 seconds. Best get to the ring." the ref replied. Kai nodded and headed to the entrance of the ring. Just as his opponent had turned to leave, Kai entered. "I'm here!" he yelled. The crowd cheered and the warrior known as Mirage turned back, smiling. "I hope you've got some energy left. You'll need it." he retorted, taking his blade from his back. Kai readied his own weapon, holding it steady and smiling. "Oh, I do. I doubt I'll need much to take on the likes of you though."

As soon as the gong rang Mirage charged, swinging at Kai from the right. Twisting the blade to the right, Kai parried the strike swiftly and ducked down low and backed away from his opponent. Mirage, however, matched every step Kai took back with a step forward. He thrust the blade at Kai's torso, catching him on the right side. The wound was light, but still drew blood.

Mirage smiled as the crimson liquid ran down Kai's chest. "Looks like I've drawn first blood." he taunted. Kai returned the smile and slashed at Mirage's arm, inflicting a long slender cut the length of his arm. Caught off guard, Mirage stumbled back. "Better not get too close, mate. I'd be more than happy to give you another." he laughed. Mirage growled low and charged again.

Sighing, Kai stepped to the left and allowed Mirage to run right past him. Striking from behind now, he swiftly ran his blade across Mirage's back. With this wound, Mirage dropped to his knees. Blood now ran down his arm and down his back. After a few moments, he fell face down in the dirt. Kai simply smiled and whispered to his unconscious opponent.

"Better luck next time."

---

Kyari was next to fight, against a warrior named Burenda. All Kyari knew was that she was a myrmidon from Aufero.

"So, you are a newcomer to the Arena? Well, I have been drawn a simple tie here. I'm as good as in the second round... After being so close to victory, I crashed out in the semi-final last time. I shall win this tournament, however! Prepare to fall to my blade!" Burenda shouted.

"... Right, the only rule I have to remember is to not fly out of the enemy's range for more than 5 seconds. Come on Faera, let's go!" Kyari remembered, before commanding her Pegasus to float slightly in the air.

Kyari got in the first attack, shooting an arrow quickly to open and then switching to her Jupiter's Wrath, a purple-tinged blade, ready to strike. She was flown forward by Faera, and she slammed her blade down, slicing through the arm of her opponent's robe. Burenda's whole sleeve fell gently to the ground.

Burenda leapt into the air as a reply to the opening move, gracefully swiping her sword as accurately as possible at Kyari, but Faera flew higher and then swooped down, turning 180 degrees to face the enemy, who then cast a simple ice spell at Kyari, who braced herself and took the attack, shuddering from the cold. This gave her opponent time to prepare another attack, quickly attacking.

Angered by this, Kyari shook the attack off and fiercely returned fire with three quick arrow shots. She had perfected the switch of weapons and then swooped in to attack again with the sword, hitting the sword arm of her enemy. Burenda grabbed her arm in pain, unable to stop the blood flow.

"Doesn't matter. I'll win even with my weaker arm." her enemy said as she picked up her sword with her left hand, but she clearly was nowhere near as adept at swordsmanship with that hand, missing even Faera completely one time, before Kyari flew up in the air on Faera, then swooped downwards, and leapt off her pegasus, attacking her opponent with a downwards slash. Burenda fell to the ground as Kyari landed, with Faera landing next to her. Happily, she stroked her Pegasus.

"The victor is Kyari!" an announcer shouted as cheers flew around the arena.  
"You... I- You cheated! If I had a Pegasus, I would have won." Burenda said before fainting.

---

Next up was Blade, who got to the arena that morning, entering closer than the stands assigned for the crowd, leaning against a wall. He watched the first few fights, admiring the tactics and strength of some of the fighters, laughing to himself at the weaknesses of others. Eventually, his name was called to fight. "Finally," he muttered as he rose, slowly making his way onto the raised stone platform meant for the fighters. He found himself facing a young woman gripping a large broadsword with two hands. Her knees were slightly trembling, as was the large sword she was struggling to hold up. "This…isn't fair," Blade said, talking to the Arena ref. With no response, he turned to his opponent. "Don't do this…there's no reason to try"  
"Shut up," she squeaked.

A loud "Mia versus Blade….GO!" from the announcer's booth high above began the match, and Mia rushed forward. The crowd was roaring, all the women cheering for Mia. Blade sighed, his shoulders drooping at the dismay of his pathetic draws. Mia managed one huge, long swing aimed at Blade's head, before Blade vanished before her eyes, dropping below the swing and thrusting a knee into her stomach. She merely coughed once, letting the sword fall to the ground and falling to her knees, struggling for some breath. Blade turned and walked off, bored. The crowd was hushed, disappointed at such a boring fight.

"And the winner is…Blade."

---

"Jeimusu and Kage, please make your way to the ring." a voice boomed from out of nowhere. At hearing this, Kage made his way from the stands to the arena floor.  
"So, where is my opponent...?" Kage muttered to himself, but just as he uttered those words, a complete novice swordsman came out carrying a chain. But before the announcer could start the match, the swordsman spoke.  
"Don't start the match. I'm not Jeimusu." he said, dragging the chain.  
"If you're not Jeimusu, then who is?" Kage asked, getting annoyed. But before the swordsman replied, five other people also carrying chains came walking out onto the field. "This is getting annoying... what's going on here!" he demanded, wanting an explanation. As he said this, the arena started to rumble. An extremely large man, about eight feet tall and looking about the same width in height made his way into the arena, chains binding his arms and legs, with two chains wrapped around his neck. Also, he had a huge ball and chain mace in his right hand. The crowd erupted in cheers of awe and excitement as this man made his way to the ring. As the man made it to his starting position, all the chains released, and the men who where carrying them pulled the chains out of the arena hurriedly.  
"BEGIN!" the announcer shouted. Jeimusu threw his ball straight at Kage, but he was too quick for him and dashed out of the way. At this, Jeimusu pulled back the ball with the chain that was connected to it and readying it again.  
"You're making this too easy." Kage taunted, dodging another pitch of the ball.  
"You think this is too easy!" a scratchy voice boomed from the huge man, "Well... try this!" Jeimusu yelled, spinning the ball and chain around and around over his head, creating a twister of dust in the ring, sucking Kage inwards. Noticing he couldn't spare any time, Kage phased into a ghostly silhouette and appeared onto the other side of his opponent and thrust his dagger into Jeimusu's back, yet the blade didn't even make a scratch on the man's skin. At this, Kage sparked an idea, and jumped onto the ball that Jeimusu was spinning around.  
"I don't think so!" Jeimusu boomed. He now used great strength to stop the ball from spinning and swing it straight down, trying to slam Kage into the ground with it. However, just as the ball was above Jeimusu's head, Kage jumped off, cutting the thick chain. The ball came falling down upon the backside of Jeimusu's head, knocking him out cold.  
"...And the winner is... Kage Hakaisha!" The announcer... announced. However, Kage was already walking out of the ring and back into the stands.

---

Kyari sat down in the Spectator Area to watch Varlen's fight, which was to close the first round of fights. They walked out, Varlen, covering his nerves with bravado first. Then, Syre, his opponent, nervously walked out. He looked determined but slightly unsure of what was about to happen. Varlen, however, was eagerly receiving the cheers of the fans.

Anxious, Kyari waited for the signal to be given by the referee to start. When it was given, Varlen threw his javelin at Syre, who sidestepped the attack, and ran at the unarmed warrior, striking him twice, who desperately tried to get back to his weapon. Varlen had chosen to not fight mounted on his wyvern, and this heightened Kyari's fears over the fight, as he was less sure on firm ground, it seemed.

Varlen picked up his weapon and attacked Syre, damaging him quite severely, and blood gushed from his side. Wincing through the pain he quickly tried to attack, wanting the fight to end as soon as possible. Varlen was also struggling, as he was cut and bruised from the attacks of the enemy, who had a clear speed advantage, highlighted by Varlen using his unwieldy weapon carelessly once or twice, missing, and giving a perfect chance to his opponent to attack. Varlen soon tired, and Kyari gasped as both fighters attacked each other at once. He fell to his knees.

Kyari gasped as Varlen's wyvern flew down. Varlen slowly scrambled up and shouted "I admit defeat." Turning to Kyari in the audience, he said "I shall go away to train, and will return when I have mastered this weapon, when I may be of more use". The wyvern flew up and over the horizon as Kyari looked shocked.

Kyari ran to tell the others what had happened as they prepared for their second round fight, as Syre stayed in the centre of the arena. Medics rushed out to him and began casting various curing spells and aiding him as he looked surprised.

Only ten minutes later, a buzz passed through the room where the competitors stayed to make their preparations. Kyari was sitting on a bed when Blade walked over.

"I heard just a second ago that that Syre guy won again. He's the first warrior through to the next round. Your fight's coming up soon, good luck. I watched the Kuragi guy you're fighting in the last round. He's pretty tough, because he's a very quick rogue-like warrior, but I reckon you can win"  
"Oh, thanks Blade. Wait... If you beat your second round fight... Don't you face Syre?" Kyari replied.  
"Yeah, but to be honest, Varlen was unprepared. He thought his first round fight would be as easy as mine was... I felt so sorry for that girl I fought... But I know I'll be okay, I'm focused, and I know the dangers. I'll be careful. So must you, okay?" Blade said in a definite moment of anxiety.  
"I will. Thanks, Blade." Kyari smiled.

---

Arashi and Asura moved north to meet the so-called enemy. No sooner had they reached the point they planned to attack, than a group of seventeen warriors with the standard of Iuria, carried by the leader.

"Look, its Master Asura! Ex-commander of our entire army! We had heard you were here! Master Asura, we need your help. Kezuro has gone missing. We need you to come back and lead Iuria until he gets back, if he does. Would you do that for our people?" he said.  
"Oh... I was planning to fight, but... My people need me. I am torn." Asura said to Arashi, who looked sad.  
"This is obviously Kezuro's plan. He wants to part the group by getting you to fulfil your duty." Arashi said, but Asura's mind was made up.  
"I despise Kezuro for this, but the city needs a leader. I shall return to Iuria, and if my traitor brother returns, I shall kill him there and then." Asura decided, "Come on men, let's get back to Iuria and I'll sort this mess out. We'll rebuild the destroyed parts and help those who need it. Arashi, I know you can lead without me."

Asura smiled at the others, then continued north with the warriors to Iuria, while Arashi, dejected at the necessary continuation of the group's now almost complete parting, returned to Kilina to explain the situation. The Marquis of Kilina, pleased with their work, rewarded her with some money, but with the group split, she decided that she should spend some time relaxing in the city, perhaps watching her allies in the arena, or doing some shopping before the group move on.

---

Rynna's march brought her to an ancient structure, built of sandy brick and weathered by the desert winds. The gate was directly ahead, and in front of it stood two men, one with a pair of scimitars, and the other with a twin-bladed cutlass. The two stared hesitantly at Rynna as she approached.  
"State your business." the guard with the scimitars let out brusquely, pointing one of them at her.  
"...I'd like to speak with the Swordsmaster." Rynna replied evenly, eyes regarding the guard sharply. The two guards paused for a moment, exchanging glances.  
"Very well. Come." the warrior with the twin-blade took his turn to speak, walking in through the gate. Rynna followed in behind her. The weaved through the halls of the ruined temple, light shining through large cracks in the ceiling, until they finally came to an ornate, enclosed room, missing any form of ceiling at all. The high walls cast a thick shadow across the corner of the room. Rynna's escort stopped at the doorway, and she proceeded to walk past him, straight before a regal throne, two guards in scarlet robes standing on each side, with a man in the centre, heavily clad in violet armour, being fanned by two female servants. His blue eyes met Rynna's, underneath his rather long and messy blonde hair.  
"Who the hell are you?" the man demanded, annoyed already. Rynna stared at him resolutely.  
"...My name is Rynna Ichiko. I ask the same question of you." she stated simply. This turned the heads of almost all in the room. The guards at the man's sides remained still, however, the female servants, as well as those who were simply minding their own business at the sides of the room looked towards her and ceased their actions. The man looked around him, and smiled in amusement.  
"I see your reputation proceeds you. I am Lord Sakurai Takahashi, leader of the Halcyon Assassin Clan... I welcome you to my humble abode... however-" he explained, until Rynna cut him off.  
"Where is Swordsmaster Takeda?" she interrupted rudely, annoying the man greatly. He rose from his seat.  
"...Never speak the name of that dog in front of me again!" Sakurai erupted in anger. He drew a thick lance, a silvery blue, and thrust it towards Rynna, who batted it away with a flash of her sword, sheathing it once more underneath the black cloak. Sakurai blinked for a moment in disbelief, pulling a crimson-tinted lance into his other hand. Two assassins rushed to her side, one with a pair of thick metal claws, and the other with a pair of knives in his hands, spare sheathed daggers strapped across his chest. His eye was replaced by a thick scar.  
"Swordsmistress Ichiko... it fills my heart with joy to see your return..." the man with the claws said in a raspy tone. The latter continued.  
"Are you alright, Swordsmistress?" he questioned, looking hesitantly around himself. From the shadows in the corner of the room appeared a ring of red-robed assassins, encircling the three in the centre of the room.  
"...Swordsmistress? Hmph. It matters not. As with your Swordsmaster friend, I will do away with you as I did with him. Tell me... do you believe in god?" Rynna turned towards him with a hateful glare, drawing the Brillante from underneath her cloak. The wind began to howl. "...Maybe you should."

An assassin leapt from the surrounding circle, signalling the start of the battle. Many assassins came at this time, ploughing through the perimeter to assist the small group in the middle. Rynna herself stood, until two assassins came at her from both sides, each with a pair of swords. She ducked quickly to avoid their thrusts and slashes, blades simply tearing her cloak to shreds. She rose from the ground, impaling the one on her left in the eye, then spinning around to parry the continuing assault from the other.  
"I'll bury you!" Sakurai shouted, drawing Rynna's attention. She turned her head towards him, then pulled back to narrowly avoid a lance thrust at her face. Rynna instinctively drew her legs into the air and fell into a backroll to the next quick stab aimed at her feet. She rose hastily once more, whipping around to drag the Brillante across another assailant's throat before his dagger could reach her. She spun around, batting away another strike from Sakurai's lance, and now it was her turn to attack.  
"Take- ah!" Rynna began, slashing upwards at him to begin her Scourge of the Desert technique, but unfortunately, Sakurai was much faster than he looked. He put his other lance in the way, into a twirl, pushing the rapier aside and throwing Rynna off balance for a split second. She recovered, and Sakurai pushed forward his free spear into Rynna's shoulder, piercing flesh and withdrawing the point as quickly as it had entered, Rynna stumbling backward with a sharp gasp of pain, putting her left hand to her shoulder and falling backwards, braced on one knee. Sakurai brought his other lance around and sent it hurtling through the air, straight at her. Rynna saw her opening and lunged forward into the attack, ducking to one side, the spear slicing a clean incision across her cheek. She however, thrust her sabre forth, into the joint section of his chestplate, drawing a trickle of blood to spill down his sleek armour. He gritted his teeth, left his spear stabbed into the ground, and clenched his now free fist, letting it fly forward with crushing power into Rynna's jaw, sending her flying onto her back.  
"Swordsmistress!" the man with the extensive arsenal of daggers called out as four assassins dived down upon her with various weapons drawn. Thinking quickly, Rynna stabbed her sword into the ground behind her, pulling on it with both hands and removing herself from most of the intended harm. A wristblade left its mark across her thigh, and she winced in pain as she boosted herself back onto her feet, slashing immediately at the ground, giving them no chance to give chase. A cutlass came less than an inch from her face, cutting off a few blue strands, but unfortunately, those in front of her were swept up in the resulting tornado of sand. Sakurai's expression turned grim as he drew his lance from the ground, and began to twirl it, dispelling the powerful cyclone that had kept five assassins from reaching her. He stared on, watching her thrust her blade into one, then turn around, gracefully upper-cutting another across the face.  
"Swordsmistress...! This way...!" the assassin with the pair of claws hissed from the doorway, and Rynna dashed for the exit, slashing down one who decided to get in her way. They quickly made their escape, however, Sakurai remained unamused. His eyes ravenously scoured the battlefield for survivors of the opposing side. His female servants had seemed to have run off as well. He observed the blood seeping into the stony cracks beneath him, drying in the hot sun. A smile pursed his lips.  
"Hahaha... impressive." Sakurai began aloud, pausing for a moment to cough up a bit of crimson, putting his hand to the wound at his chest. "...Run along... try to outrun death."

* * *

_And onto the next chapter ._


	5. The Tournament Continues

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own the fire emblem series or in anyway present that I do. But I do own rights over all original Characters presented thus far._

_**Author's Note:** The Tournament is getting interesting._

* * *

**The Artefacts of the Ancients**

**Chapter 05:****  
**

**The Tournament Continues**

* * *

Kezuro, the current Marquis of Iuria, the fastest growing city in the world, had always been a failure in the eyes

Kyari left Blade in the preparations room and walked out into the arena itself. Kuragi was already standing there, his knife in his right hand. His messy, thick black hair sat spiked up on his head, and he wore a black cape over dark, thin-plate armour.

Kyari had decided that fighting on Faera would only hinder her in this fight as speed was definitely needed.

The signal was given and the fight began. Kyari was used to fighting on foot, and though she preferred attacking from the air with her bow, with her sword, she was more proficient on the ground. She fired an arrow quickly, then switched weapons.

Kuragi rolled under the arrow's trajectory then leapt up, attacking Kyari, who had taken a small cut to the arm. Kuragi had left himself open however, as he had moved in so closely. Kyari fiercely struck with a powerful sword attack.

Kuragi disappeared just after taking the attack's power and reappeared at the other edge of the arena, and Kyari cast Blade of the Ancients, raising her attack and defence, though lowering her resistance to magic, which she thought Kuragi knew none of. However, having used this attack, Kuragi charged some power, and then threw a ball of shadow at her, knocking her to the ground.

She got up, shook her head and ran at Kuragi, who ran at her. She jumped and struck downwards with the sword, hitting Kuragi in the back as he rolled under her. A long, thin cut formed on his back, and a hole was left in his cape.

Feeling that she had a chance, she moved in to attack again, but Kuragi kicked her away, then disappeared. He reappeared behind her and cast an attack on her, forming a dark shadow around her, fogging her vision completely. All she could do was stumble around as he attacked her around five times. When the effects faded and her vision was restored, she was determined to finish the fight quickly. Kuragi was far away again, so she fired another arrow. Again Kuragi dodged the attack.

Kuragi ran at her, dodging more arrow fire, but as he got closer, she cast Blade of the Ancients again, raising her attack further. She hoped he wouldn't cast any more magic at her, but luckily he didn't have the time, as she used her temporarily-raised power to swipe with her Jupiter's Wrath at his stomach, then struck again at his head with the blunt end of her blade.

Kuragi fell back to the ground, as Kyari stood, waiting for a comeback. But nothing came. Kuragi stayed motionless on the ground.

"The victor is Kyari! Attention, medics. You are needed on the arena again."

Kyari smiled slightly, feeling sorry for Kuragi, who had fought well, but was glad that she had moved forward. She returned to the preparation's room and laid on one of the beds to relax. Kage, Kai and Blade came over to congratulate her, and Kage told her that her next round opponent would be Lente, a hulking axe user whose major flaw was his speed. Kai agreed, assuring her that if she made sure she attacked quickly, preferably from a distance, she would have no problems winning a place in the semi-final.

Happily, she lay there, as the others prepared for their second round fights... She soon fell asleep.

---

Blade walked through the preparation room onto the battlefield, acknowledging Kyari's good battle with a nod. He jumped nimbly onto the platform as the medics carried Kuragi off, and a man with a dishevelled brown head of hair climbed onto the opposite corner of the arena, propping himself on a gleaming broadsword with an opal-encrusted as he shook his head to clear his eyes.  
"Didn't watch his first fight," Blade thought to himself, "But he doesn't seem too bad." A few moment's later, from the announcer's booth, the announcer named the fighters and began the battle. "Let's do it."

Felix rushed Blade, raising his great weapon above his head, Blade slouching confidently, with both Styx and Lethe drawn. The sword was brought crashing down, and Blade raised Lethe confidently, ready to bat it away. However, it didn't work well; the weapon was barely slowed down.

"Damn it," Blade cussed as he dropped to a knee, bringing Styx above his head as well, crossing his weapons in an X-fashion, struggling to hold up the power in that sword. After a few moments of struggle, both weapons slightly trembling with power but matched, Blade released and swung himself away, rolling along the ground, allowing the weapon to slam into the ground, as a blast of flames erupted outward from the created crater.

"Not bad," Felix smirked, easily heaving the sword with a single arm. "Berdysh rarely finds a match for itself."  
"Don't worry," Blade answered. "You've got more than a match here."

In response, Felix grabbed Berdysh with his second hand, bringing it up like a baseball bat. He swung it forward and into the ground, like a miserable golf swing, but with devastating effects: fire and rocks exploded outward in a straight line, aimed at Blade, who barely jumped out of the way, a tongue of flame scorching his arm. Blade winced, gripping the darkened burn spot for a moment, before rushing at Felix. Felix swung again at Blade, but Blade jumped, laying himself out horizontally over the swing. Felix came around a second time while Blade was in the air, cutting through the air diagonally. Blade twisted around, slamming both of his weapons into the flat of the Berdysh, knocking it downward into the ground, allowing Blade to cut at Felix, opening up a pair of crescent wounds in his chest before Felix regained control, jumping back, now angry. Blade charged again, but this time, Felix thrust his sword vertically into the ground, forcing plumes of fire to explode upward all around him. One eruption caught Blade off guard, launching him skidding across the ground. But Blade struggled to his feet, rushing Felix again before he could prepare another similar assault. Felix managed to bring Berdysh up and around again, preparing to strike. But Blade flipped both of his swords around in his palm, gripping the handles so the edge pointed to the ground. Blade dove at Felix and the oncoming Berdysh, letting his two weapons hit first. Using Felix's own sturdy weapon as leverage, Blade pivoted on his own swords, turning his forward dive into a roundhouse kick, using centripetal force to swing around, nailing Felix with his foot, throwing him down along the ground, where he skidded to a stop against a wall. Blade landed on his other leg, knee bent. A moment later, he rose and stood straight, putting away his weapons and breathing heavily, but Felix didn't move. A few seconds of silence….

"Blade Hakashi is victorious and moves onto the next round!" The announcer yelled, as the crowd roared in appreciation for such a show. With a smile, Blade left the arena to rest.

---

Arashi wandered through the streets, and decided that it may be worth visiting the arena to see how her friends are doing. She walked up to the grand building but stopped outside. A young lady was being consoled by a slightly older man. Arashi guessed that the girl was around 18 and the boy was about 21.

"Excuse me, can I help?" she asked.  
"Oh, its nothing, miss," The man replied, "This is my sister. She's sad because she lost in the first round of the arena, and we could do with the money, because my father's ill. I'm still in the tournament, so we might be okay."  
"Oh. Some of my friends are in the current tournament. Have you heard of Blade, Kyari, Kai, Kage or Varlen?" Arashi asked. As soon as she said the name Blade, the girl began to cry even more. "Oh... Sorry... Did I say something wrong?"  
"Uh, Mia lost to Blade in the first round, and... I fight him next." the man replied.  
"It... It only lasted a few seconds! I was useless!" Mia sobbed.

"Oh, don't cry. Your brother might win so you can... Wait, if he's ill, perhaps I can help. I'm a magician, and I know a basic healing spell that may be of use." Arashi thought out loud.  
"Hmm, its worth a try. My next fight isn't for a while. This is Mia. My name's Syre. Just so you know, I beat Varlen in the first round, and he's gone away on his wyvern. He said something to a girl in the crowd... I saw her fight yesterday, so she must be one of your friends." Syre said.  
"Ah, oh dear. Well, he must have been talking to Kyari. You see, we're currently travelling as a group of mercenaries, so for Varlen to lose must have knocked his confidence. I guess he'll be back one day with us." Arashi said.

Syre and Mia led Arashi to a house. It wasn't that small, but it wasn't particularly grand. They entered, and inside, a old man was laying on the bed.

"We're back Mum, Dad. We've got someone with us who may be able to help. Her name's Arashi, and she's a cleric of some sort." Syre said.  
"I'm sorry Dad, I lost in the first round." Mia said, laying a huge sword down. "Maybe I should have used my sword. Its not as strong but its easier to use. Hey, Syre's doing really well though!"  
"Oh, don't worry, kids..." the man said, before wincing in agony.

"I need the room to be in darkness so I can draw power from the shadows. Is that okay?" Arashi said. The family agreed, and blew out all the torches. In the darkness, Arashi muttered a few words, and light began to return to the room as Arashi drew the darkness into her staff, and then the room returned to darkness as Arashi took the shadows' energy and turned it into healing power. She used her Demon Drain to help cure the man. The lights were re-lit and the man stood up.

"I feel so much better now! How can we repay you? Clerics cost so much money, that's why the kids went in for the tournament, even though I didn't want them to be in danger..."  
"Oh, don't worry, sir. I just wanted to help. If you need anything again, I'll be at the arena. My friends are fighting again soon, I think. Good luck in the tournament, Syre." Arashi said as she left, leaving in the house the family, happy to have their father's health restored.  
"We don't need the money now, Dad. Why don't I just forfeit and let Blade go forward to win the tournament?" Syre said.  
"Well, that's a nice idea. It really is up to you, son." His father replied, slowly sitting up and smiling.

---

Kai arrived punctually for this round. In fact, he was eager to do battle with his opponent. Both combatants enter the ring and the gate close. The crowd roars when the two step into the arena. Kai examines his opponent, Franz, before drawing his blade. Franz apparently did the same and became cocky. "Prepare yourself, cad. You'll soon know true pain." he snarled, unsheathing his dual daggers. "I'm sure..." Kai sighed. They were all the same: too much talk, too little substance.

This remark apparently angered Franz, as he rushed forward and thrust the daggers toward Kai's torso. Kai turned sideways, allowing the daggers to pass around him. Now that Franz was close, Kai could easily inflict a large amount of damage on him. He slammed an elbow into Franz's throat, bruising his windpipe and obstructing his breathing. Franz stumbled back, gasping for air and slashing blindly with his daggers.

Kai parried the daggers, knocking them out of Franz's grasp, and moved in to end the battle. He sent a kick to Franz's legs, knocking him to the ground. Finally, crouching by his body, he slammed the hilt of the Ra'keth into the back of his skull. The blow knocked Franz out cold. The fight was over.

---

Avaria and Kage, please step into the arena." The announcer beckoned from the sidelines. Kage, already walking down to the arena, didn't take too long to get into the ring. As for the other side, a man came walking out wearing heavy clothing that made him look extremely muscular, but not showing any detail other than he was a big guy.  
"Let's start this then." Avaria said from where he stood.  
"That's exactly what I was thinking..." Kage got out, just before the announcer started the battle. Avaria pulled out two axes, seemingly from nowhere, and leapt into the air. Kage looked up, only to be blinded by the sun. He lowered his head so he could see again, and Avaria struck his right arm with the blunt side of one of his axes, dislocating it instantly.  
"Oh, so you want to play like that?" Kage muttered, picking up the dagger he dropped with his left arm. He quickly sheathed it and charged at Avaria unarmed. He phased out of reality and straight through Avaria, appearing on the other side. Kage stopped to dropkick Avaria in the back; knocking him to a knee and making him drop one of his axes.  
"Oh, so you don't need your rusty blade to hurt people now, do you?" Avaria questioned, making a funny movement. Just as he was done with this strange movement, he pulled a metal slab out from behind his shirt and he threw it over to the side of the arena. "I watched your first match... it's good to take precaution but all that did was lower my speed." Avaria explained after picking up his axe. Kage dashed at Avaria but this time, performing a spinning kick, delivering a strong blow across his face. Avaria, angered by this, stood still for a second as if charging up. After around ten seconds passing he began to spin at a rapid rate, while Kage was attempting to pop his arm back into place. Avaria slowly started moving toward Kage, who noticed that he was about to get hit by the actual sharp edge of the axe, dashed backwards until almost tripping on something. He looked down, and to his surprise he found the metal plate that Avaria had recently discarded. Avaria increased his speed to almost a run, spinning, and kept coming at the defenceless Kage. Kage had to think quick, but not to act too soon, and he pulled out his dagger with his left arm. Throwing the Umbra directly at Avaria, seemingly for his head, Kage thought to have won the battle, but the dagger was tosses away by Avaria, who was still increasing in speed. Kage, thought to have missed his chance, moved backwards a little more this time, actually falling because of the metal plate. Avaria was now about five meters away and closing in fast. Kage had to act quickly, and using his left hand to pick up the plate, he threw the metal slab at Avaria's legs. This time, he accurately hit directly in the centre, tripping Avaria to the ground and breaking his left leg and arm as he landed. He didn't seem to move after this blow... he was unconscious. After this, Kage heard the announcer yell out the name of the victor.  
"And the winner is... Kage!" the crowd went into the loudest cheers of the second round. This battle was one of the best seen so far.

---

The assassins and Rynna fled quickly to a nearby encampment, sheltered from plain sight by the sandy dunes. They led Rynna to a table in a large beige tent, pulling out the chair at the head of the table and seating her down at it.  
"Who is this?" an assassin questioned, coming from a room in the back. He eyed her carefully, as did the resulting crowd who had gathered upon their entrance.  
"This is Swordsmistress Ichiko. See to it that you follow her utmost instructions to the letter. I will fetch Swordsmaster Takeda." the man with the daggers who had helped her earlier explained, quickly taking a bow as well as his leave. As his words were heard, the assassins immediately began to spread and apologize for trivial things such as not knowing who she was. Most knew her though, and merely wanted to observe her triumphant return.  
"M-my apologies Swordsmistress, I-" one of them began, stammering. Rynna stood and took hold of his trembling hands, pulling him up, whilst he froze from Rynna being so close to him.  
"...Just call me Rynna, I'm not your Swordsmistress anymore." she explained calmly, turning away and letting go of the man's hands. She undid the knot at her back, removed her trenchcoat, and began folding it neatly in her arms, attracting stares from some of the assassins, the others just standing there, waiting hopefully for orders. Rynna met the glares with a light blush, regarding each of them. She was not quite accustomed to so much attention. "Erm... can I... get some bandages?"  
"Yes Swordsmistress!" three assassins responded in unison, making haste and dashing out from the large tent to fetch bandages for her wounds. And into the tent, walked the assassin with the arsenal of daggers, and a new man, with scraggly shoulder-length violet locks and a partisan strapped across his back. His black fatigues matched Rynna's, and his expression took on one of happiness. Never mind the fact that his broken arm was wrapped in now bloodstained bandage and his ankle the same way.  
"Rynna? Is that you?" the man let out, stumbling forward, being assisted by two assassins. Rynna smiled lightly and began to approach him. "It is you! Wow, you look great! Have you found Shinji yet?" this question however, took on the opposite of his mood. Rynna stopped immediately in her tracks, heart jumping to her throat. At that moment, she felt like letting out a terrible wail of sorrow, as hard as she could muster, but the thought simply choked on her throat. She blinked away the tears beginning to form in her eyes, and resolved against crying right in front of those who respected her the most. "...I see. I'm sorry."

"...It's fine." Rynna managed finally, coughing a bit. Two of the assassins returned with bandages, and she gave them a nod. They began to wrap it gently around her fresh wounds, and Rynna sought to change the subject. "What happened back there anyway? That guy was saying that he was the new Swordsmaster of Halcyon..."  
"Rynna, forgive me... about a month before this day, that man, Sakurai, came to challenge me. He wished to duel me for my position as per our tradition. I accepted. However, that man... fights unlike any I have ever seen. He now rules over those who decided to stay and follow him... he is much stronger than I, which I believe is the reason for most of those who stayed..." the man conveyed the situation. Rynna looked upon him sternly. "And... I know this is a bit much to ask but... this man has no right to be ruler of the assassin clan. He goes against everything Halcyon stands for, using the assassins as his tool to kill whoever he wishes. Please Rynna, I beg you... will you stand against him?" he pleaded. Rynna stepped forward as soon as her wounds were bandaged, placing her hands firmly on his shoulders.  
"Miroku... of course I will. But you have to be strong too. After I deal with Sakurai, I'm going to leave the clan in your hands again... when I return again, I'm going to expect Swordsmaster Takeda to be leading Halcyon in the right direction. Understood?" she consoled, her eyes level with his. Miroku lowered his glance to the ground.  
"...Yes ma'am." he answered. Rynna breathed out a bit in relief, and slipped her trenchcoat back on. Meanwhile, back at the Halcyon Clan Headquarters...

"...That girl is impressive. You say she withstood Sakurai's lance?" an armour clad man asked, simply to clarify.  
"Matched by a woman in combat... Haha... how humiliating..." another man in thick armour chuckled, snickering at the thought.  
"Fool. She is the TRUE leader of the assassins... that Swordsmaster moron was simply a man left to take her place... to be able to control such an efficient group of killing machines must take someone exceptionally strong, man or woman." yet another man clad in armour let out. There were four in the room, and the last proceeded to speak.  
"Regardless of how powerful that woman is, she is no match for the likes of us... we will strike while their backs are turned... we will destroy those who stand against Lord Sakurai once and for all..."

---

"The first fight of the quarterfinals is Kyari against Lente. Both warriors have got through their first two fights with fair ease, but both have wildly differing styles. Lente favours strength over speed, while Kyari is the opposite." the announcer boomed.

Kyari looked determinedly at Lente, a hulking axe-user. Lente looked fairly angry, but Kyari thought to herself that not a lot else was going on in the guy's head. She smiled, and, having decided not to fly on Faera again this time, needing to make the most of her speed advantage, she ran directly at her opponent.

She ducked under an axe swing, then a roll around behind her enemy. She stabbed viciously at her enemy's back, who fell forward in pain. She leapt over his bowed head and slammed the hilt of her blade against the back of his head, knocking him out cold... Or so she thought. She walked away, but turned to see Lente moving.

Lente got up, and he angrily threw his axe at Kyari, who sidestepped it with great ease. The axe hit a wall and stuck. Kyari smiled and aimed a perfect shot with her bow from afar, straight into her enemies stomach, completing her easiest fight yet. This time, Lente didn't get up, and the medics came to her opponent's aid immediately.

"Without even being hit once, Kyari is through. Let's hope she gets some sterner opposition in the semis, and we're sure she will, as she will face Blade or Syre, both of whom are very able warriors who have fought against decent opposition and won through easily." The announcer clearly hadn't been excited by the simple fight, though the crowd were roaring. Clearly she had made it look interesting, at least.

Kyari walked into the preparations room as the medics carried Lente into the room next door. Blade and Syre were on opposite sides of the room she had entered, not looking at each other. Meanwhile, Kai was nowhere to be seen. Since finding out that he had to fight a warrior by the name of Kurisu, Kai had disappeared.

She wondered if Kurisu, who she hadn't come across since the start of the tournament, was the same one Kai had mentioned in his tales of adventure, and if Kai had been looking for Kurisu. He clearly had never come to the preparations room between fights. Perhaps he preferred to watch the fights. She decided to follow suit and watch the other fights of the round…

Meanwhile, Arashi had just seen Kyari beat Lente quite easily, and decided to ask to visit her to see how she was doing, and discuss what had happened with Varlen.

She entered the preparations room to find that she was nowhere to be seen. No-one was in the room. When she asked around, a man said that he had seen a girl who fit the description Arashi gave go out to the arena again, to the spectators' area. Arashi passed through the crowd of people, searching for Kyari.

Kyari was sitting in the stadium, as the man had said she may have been, and when Arashi found her, she seemed pleased to see her friend. Kyari explained what had happened when Varlen fought, and Arashi told her how she had helped Mia and Syre.

"Oh, I felt sorry for Mia. Blade won so easily." Kyari stated.  
"Yeah, so I heard. But Syre's doing well. Blade might have a challenge this round!" Arashi smiled as Kyari laughed.

"Yeah, then I have to fight the winner. It'll be tough, but I've been the general of the Ercian army's Pegasus Knights. I could win, but it'll be tough." Kyari yawned and stretched, seeming to be not that worried about winning. "I look at it this way. If Blade wins, one of us is in the final. If not, I might still beat Syre and get to the final. Kai and Kage are also excellent warriors. We can get the money we need easily."

"Well, good luck Kyari. I'm gunna go have a talk with the others, just to wish them good luck. See you later." Arashi said, walking away.

* * *

And we continue on. 


	6. An Old Companion

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own the Fire Emblem series or in anyway present that I do. But I do own rights over all original characters presented thus far._

**Author's Note:** _What is this? Fun? Or am I just trying to save the hopeless._

* * *

**The Artefacts of the Ancients**

**Chapter 06:**

**An old Companion**

* * *

Again, Kai arrived right on time. With adrenaline still in his veins from prior victories, he thought he could easily win this next battle. The bell rang and he stepped out into the arena once again, hearing the crowd cheer. Kai looked toward the other gate...but they remained closed. "Will the next competitor, Kurisu Raikaghi, please enter the arena at this time. Failure to do so will result in a forfeit." the announcer called in the preparation area.

Kai's eyes lit up as he heard this. Could his opponent be the same Kurisu he knew as a child? Surely it couldn't be...there had to be some kind of mistake. As soon as Kai turned to check with the announcer, the opposite gates swung open. "I'm here!" Kurisu shouted to the announcer, who nodded and raised the red flag to begin the battle.

"It's you! Kurisu, my old friend! What are the odds?" Kai yelled to him. Kurisu instantly recognized the voice of his childhood friend. "Kaitou Ra'keth...I haven't received word from you in quite some time." Kurisu replied. "But it's good you are here. I need to speak with you...and anyone that is with you." he continued. As the two continued talking, the crowd grew restless. They demanded to see a fight. "It is unfortunate that we had to meet under such circumstances...the people want to see some sport." Kurisu said reluctantly. "Well then, let's give them what they want!" Kai shouted, slashing at Kurisu.

The sound of steel grinding against steel filled the air as Kai's blade met with Kurisu's own weapon. "Always the crowd-pleaser..." he sighed, pushing Kai's strike away to the left. Kai smiled and slashed again, this time at his opponent's stomach. Kurisu stepped back swiftly, causing the strike to swing wild and Kai lost balance for a moment.

Taking this chance to attack, Kurisu slashed horizontally at his foe. Kai turned to the side but the attack left a slender cut on his left cheek. "Ow...I see you've improved, Kurisu." Kai commented before taking a few steps back toward the arena wall. Matching his steps, Kurisu smiled. "Of course I have. I've been training, you know."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Kai jumped backward onto the side of the wall. Pushing off it and propelling himself forward, he lashed out and caught Kurisu on the right shoulder as he flew past him. The stroke caused him to lose grip on his weapon although he quickly regained it. "A clever trick, Kai...but you'll need to do better than that to beat me." Kurisu laughed half-heartedly, holding his shoulder.

"Indeed I will. And I plan to." Kai smirked, slashing at the back of Kurisu's leg. The attack connected and left another wound that brought Kurisu down to one knee. However, he turned and thrust his weapon at Kai. Caught off guard, Kai had no time to dodge. The blade pierced his chest on the bottom right side. "Ah...Good strike..." Kai mumbled, looking down at his own blood hitting the floor. Kurisu looked at the wound and whispered, "Sorry."

Kai dropped to the floor, hitting the ground hard. Although he had lost the match, Kurisu could also be medically disqualified due to fatigue. It seemed that both combatants could pull out unless they decided that one of the two would fight again in the next round with the disadvantage of not being back at full health. The medics rushed the fighters back to the preparations room, where Kyari, Kage, Blade and Arashi waited for them to come to.

---

When Kai came to, Kurisu was talking to the group, sitting on the bed next to him and introducing himself.

"Oh, good to see you're okay, Kai. Sorry to hit you like I did, I didn't mean to do such a powerful strike." Kurisu smiled almost glumly.  
"Don't worry about it. More importantly, you said you had something to tell us." Kai urged.

"Hmm." Kurisu said, "I heard a while back some bad news that I need your help in. It's about Marquis Kezuro of Iuria."  
"Really? You have information on him? We were wondering where he had gone, since we were fighting him over the Artefacts of the Ancients, but recently he hasn't come near us at all..." Arashi asked.

"Indeed, though he is in Kilina, discussing with the Marquis of this city about how they can get the Artefacts. I've done some spying and I believe you've met Marquis Kilina. Well, he's part of a four-Marquis group who plan to each get one of the artefacts. The leaders of Kilina, Ercia and Aufero the others involved-"

"That's a lie! Marquis Ercia would not ally himself with Iuria! They attacked Ercia only recently!" Kyari exclaimed angrily.  
"Kezuro is a very clever man. He used his military's power to get Aufero involved. Aufero signed a peace treaty with Kezuro, who then slowly involved the Marquis in his plans. I believe that you, Kai, also met that Marquis, who simply told you that Kezuro is no threat. Of course he's not, they're allies.

As for Ercia, as you say, Iuria attacked Ercia. But Ercia also talked peace deals, and Marquis Ercia is looking for an Artefact to help protect his city. However, to do that, he decided that working with Kezuro may help him find it much quicker. To be honest, Marquis Ercia's become so wrapped up in finding an Artefact; he's begun neglecting the city."

"... I must find out more. After this tournament, I have to fly to Ercia and speak with my Marquis." Kyari said.  
"What about Kilina? He gave us a quest and paid us for it. Wouldn't he have simply tried to kill us?" Arashi asked.  
"No, because his plan was more devious. Until I told you, you didn't know of his involvement. Therefore, he could send you on a quest that, because Kezuro had left Iuria mysteriously, meant that his brother would leave your group to look after Iuria. It was a clever plan, huh? You were down by one warrior, and he didn't have to reveal his allegiance to Kezuro."

"It is clear that we have to finish this tournament and get to Shima quickly, and get that last weapon, as we are only in possession of one, my Jupiter's Wrath. The Mars' Severity... Varlen took that with him. I hope he can keep hold of it. Vireo has one, but we haven't seen him..." Kyari said.

"Well, why don't I search for Varlen, while you try to get the fourth weapon?" Kurisu said. The group agreed on this and Kurisu made plans to leave.

---

"We are announcing that Syre has been disqualified, having not turned up to his fight on time." At the sound of this, the crowd started getting out of control. "But don't fret people; we still have Kage and Kaine to go." He called their names off to come down to the ring, some members of the audience still angry at the Syre's forfeit.

After Kage left the others he ran down to the ring hoping not to be late, knowing his opponent was already in the ring. As Kage entered the ring, he looked directly across the arena to notice a fairly large man, about seven feet across the arena. He was clothed in a large black cloak and brandished a scythe. "Now that both combatants are in the arena, we can begin..." The announcer paused for a second. "FIGHT!" he screamed into his microphone and the crowd went wild.

To start off, his strange opponent just disappeared, appearing behind Kage and slashing with his scythe, cutting Kage's back. After this, the man vanished, again this time coming from the front and slashing his scythe again, catching Kage off-guard. This time, he managed to block it somehow. Kaine left sight again, but this time, he appeared back at where he started. The man started to levitate off the ground and sounds of surprise came from the audience.

After the man was about fifteen feet, in the air he started making strange hand movements in less time then Kage could react. A giant skull formed in the air from his side and started chasing Kage, who sprinted away. After Kage seemed to outrun it the skull disappeared, and another one formed directly in front of him, and he skidded to a halt, running desperately in the other direction from this skull. He heard a crack of thunder, and rain began to fall upon the arena. The ground shifted into mud and started impeding Kage's speed, and this got him to notice that he was running out of time.

It would only be a matter of moments before he was beaten. At this, Kage dashed towards Kaine, and at just the right time, Kage leapt off the ground and was headed towards him. The rain was hitting his face, obscuring his vision, but he was sure he could make it to his target. Kaine noticed this and floated even higher, making Kage miss with the slash of his blade and come to the ground with a stylish shoulder roll.

Looking up at his opponent, who was now outside of the arena, he knew he should just give up. Fighting on would be pointless. Just as he was about to sheath his dagger, he saw a flash of light, followed quickly by the clap of thunder. He looked up and saw Kaine falling to the ground at extreme speed, singed darker than he appeared before.

The ground where he hit left a crater, and the mud that was in the area splattered as far as into the stands. Kage looked over to where Kaine fell, and noticed he wasn't moving. "And the winner is Kage!" The crowd cheered... they didn't care that it was by luck that Kage won.

---

An assassin ran into the tent with little warning, his message apparently very urgent. Rynna rose instinctively from her seat, leaving her food half-eaten on her plate. Miroku rose as well, unsheathing his partisan with his only available hand.  
"Swordsmistress! I'm sorry to disturb you, but come, quickly!" the assassin let out. Rynna and Miroku turned their glances towards each other.

"Looks like we'll have to catch up later Rynna..." Miroku said grimly, and Rynna proceeded to step out of the tent, halting as she saw the approaching force. She merely stood there, speechless. Running towards their small encampment across the desert were ranks upon ranks of assassins, weapons glittering in the burning sunlight. The sandy winds swept by, blowing her hair with insignificant force, and five wyverns split into the air behind the army of assassins, flying towards them in a V-shaped formation from above.

"Your orders Swordsmistress Ichiko? Swordsmaster Takeda?" the assassin let out, turning first to Rynna, then to Miroku.  
"Assassins, come!" he called out, grabbing the attention of most of them, from which word spread quickly, everyone rallying behind him and Rynna. "Today is the day we fight for our lives... the blood shed today will be remembered over the years as the greatest battle the Halcyon Clan has ever faced... fight not for glory... but instead for our people!" Miroku let out, taking his role as Swordsmaster more seriously, remembering Rynna's words. A loud cheer resounded from them, and Miroku turned towards the charging force in front of them.

"...Let us do this." Rynna said, drawing out her Brillante and dashing forth to meet their opponents, with her attack force behind her. The two armies soon found each other in the midst of the dunes, Rynna slashing as she ran, scoring the first casualty. Her blade ripped across an opposing assassins face, and being in the front of the formation, was chosen as the prime target of attack. Many of the assassins behind her ran past her, intercepting any who dared attack her, and the battle continued around Rynna, who simply stood, her eye catching the leader of the dragon-mounted quintuplet. Sakurai descended, thrusting both of his lances down at her, which she dodged by jumping backward. The other four stood defensively around him, fighting off any resistance that was to be offered.

"Hahaha... I was planning to catch a canary... but it seems I've snared a hawk... Haha." Sakurai chuckled maliciously, from his high mount. Rynna stared at him resolutely. "So you've stayed to help them... how pitiful. You may die now." Sakurai continued, taking once more to the skies with his elite dragoons. Rynna ignored them for the moment and rushed forward into the fray, to assist with the battle, Miroku dashing to her side, broken arm and all. They both attacked the two in front of them, leaving their bloody corpses on the ground, but before they proceeded, Miroku whirled around, then Rynna a moment after.

"Rynna! Behind you!" he called out, diving to the side. She looked too late, and met Sakurai's steel gauntlet, as his wyvern swept downward and he delivered his fist against the side of her face, smashing her into the ground, where she skidded against the sand.

"Now... PERISH!" the lancer yelled, thirsting for Rynna's blood to be spilt, brandishing both of his lances. She opened her eyes, finding the man and his dragon still flying towards her at an incomparable velocity. He thrust both of his spears downwards at her, but to his surprise, she brought her legs up and sprung into the air with her hands, flipping and landing on her feet... atop the head of Sakurai's wyvern, which rose once more to the sky. The creature let out a roar, and Rynna spotted the other four following quickly behind him. The battle beneath them stopped, and they merely began to watch the airborne skirmish above them.

"...Not yet." Rynna responded to his previous words, and Sakurai growled at her, bearing his teeth threateningly. He stabbed at her head with his lance, which she tilted aside to dodge, then, quickly retracting that weapon, swept at her legs with his other. Rynna swiftly hopped over the attack and proceeded whip around in a spinkick across Sakurai's face, tossing him off the side of his wyvern and falling towards the ground. Balance hard to maintain, she dropped neatly onto the wyvern's saddle, straightening herself and grabbing the reigns, focusing now on the four that gave chase.

She pulled gently on one of the reigns, the wyvern turning responsively until they were flying towards the four dragoons. Rynna took a slash at the first one she had passed, drawing a thick crimson arc through the air, he and his wyvern spiralling towards the ground. The next however, reached her first, extending his long spear and piercing into her stomach, forcibly removing her from Sakurai's mount. She hung, caught on the end of the polearm, letting out a painful shriek, while the third dragoon sped forward to follow up the assault.

"I'll teach you the true definition of agony!" he shouted, Rynna opening her eyes with great effort to observe the next blow. He drew back his enormous great axe, slamming the side downward upon her, sending her hurtling towards the sand. Rynna's entire frame throbbed in anguish, and, amidst the freefall, shut her eyes.

"...Rynna? Rynna... wake up... Rynna, wake up..." a soothing voice familiar to her called out. She recognized it immediately, and she opened her eyes, staring into a field of white.  
"Sh... Shinji?" she began, unable to move.  
"You were supposed to find me Rynna. You promised yourself you would." the voice echoed through her mind once more. "Are you going to break that promise?"  
"...Shinji!" She snapped back into reality with a start, although, her current downward trajectory didn't slow any. Blood was trickling from her mouth from the last blow, and her eyes hardened with resolution. She managed to form words, consoling herself. "...I... I... no... Never. I'll... find my absolution..."

---

As there would be some time between the last round and the semi-finals, Arashi decided to take a walk before watching the tense three fights that would decide which of her friends would become the winner of the tournament.

She walked through her streets, moving into empty spaces when they appeared into the crowd. She made slow progress, but eventually got to an alleyway that she could move into where there was no-one to impede her progress.

She naively strode down the path, unknowing of the dangers that lurked in the darkness nearby. However, she soon reached a dead end. Turning back to trace her steps back to the main street, she found herself surrounded.

"You've walked into the path of Kilina's finest clan of pirates, The Kilina Seadogs!" one of them, presumably the leader, said proudly. He looked only a couple of years older than Arashi, who was 20, with him probably being around 22 years old. He was easily the youngest of the pirates. He had short brown, spiky hair and was about half a foot taller than Arashi and quite a bit wider. In each hand, he held a large axe.  
"Uh... Right. May I leave now?" Arashi calmly asked.  
"No. You're never leaving, at least not with your money!" the leader exclaimed.  
"So you wish to fight? I'm ready." Arashi smiled.

Arashi knew that they had picked the wrong place to attack her. The alleyway was light enough that it was easy to see her enemies, but had enough shadows for her to conceal herself and attack easily. She stepped into the shadows, and the pirates looked around, confused by her apparent disappearance.

From nowhere, one of the five pirates grabbed his throat. It had been cut cleanly. One of the pirates tried to light a torch, and having done so, they realised what had happened. Arashi stepped out of the shadows, smiling, with a figure made out of pure dark energy standing next to her, holding a sword.

"What... What is this?" One of the scared pirates said.  
"Hmm, not so brave now, huh? Come on!"  
The shadow kicked the torch out of the pirate's hand. The torch fell to the floor and immediately was extinguished. Arashi and the shadow were nowhere to be seen.

A scream was let out from the leader as he fell to his knees. Arashi was draining his energy and storing it in her shadow warrior, making it grow in power. Arashi moved out of the shadows, drawing the pirates to move towards her, but their attention was drawn away from her 'companion', which viciously attacked another pirate.

Their numbers down to three, the pirates suddenly feared for their lives. Indeed, one fled from fear, escaping into the main pathway. All that remained was the leader, who moved backwards towards the main pathway.

"I... I give up. You've made it look so easy. Would you join our group?" he asked.  
"No, thankyou. Don't worry; I only fought for self-protection. Now that I have the upper hand, I will gladly leave you alone. But if you harm a citizen of this town again and I find out, you will be killed." Arashi said angrily.

"Oh... okay... Thanks" The pirate put away his axe and fled. Arashi smiled and walked back to the arena. She had had enough excitement for the day. She decided that she would go back to the arena and rest in the preparations room, as a companion to one of the participants.

---

"Kai... this is going to be a big fight. Are you sure you can handle it?" Kage questioned, trying to make sure that his new friend was fit for this fight.  
"Thanks for your concern Kage, but, I think that if I don't do this it's like I'm quitting, and I can't do that. I must prove to myself I can fight with an ally and to my full potential." Kai started to explain. "Yes, I may be injured but that doesn't mean that we can't make this fight a major crowd pleaser."  
"You're right Kai. Let's do our best and give the crowd what they paid for." Kage excitedly said, shaking his friend's hand.

"Will Kage and Kai please make their way to the arena?" the announcer called out.  
"That's us!" they both let out, clapping their right hands together in a show of friendship and respect. Kage moved around to the other side of the arena for the opposite entrance. As they both made it into the arena, Kage could tell that Kai was putting on a strong face for the audience, as his wound was causing constant pain, but he also knew that if he didn't fight to his full potential, that Kai would know and possibly get angry at the fact... he knew he had to go all out for his friend.

"Both combatants are now in the ring... so we must start this fight off. BEGIN!" The announcer shouted. At this, Kage dashed towards Kai, pulling out his blade, and at the same time, just as he was within striking distance, he did a slicing motion towards Kai's stomach. Kai could foresee his attack and dodged backwards, making a slashing motion for Kage's back. Kage, noticing just in time, dashed forwards. Kai's missed strike knocked him off-balance a little, but it didn't take much to regain it. Kage skidded to a stop after the dash and turned around. He faded into his spectral form and dashed towards Kai, reappearing on the other side of him. Kai was ready for this however.

When Kage reformed, Kai stabbed his blade behind him, narrowly missing Kage's stomach. Kage swung the Umbra down in time to knock Kai's attack off-course, and Kai started showing signs of weakness. This fight was draining his stamina, and he knew he couldn't last much longer. He was going to go for a last ditch effort. Kai ran at Kage and started yelling something of a battle cry. He lifted his blade over his head and swung it down upon Kage, but he had noticed what Kai was planning, just before he had done it. Kai was moving too slow from his wound, and Kage did a sidestep behind him and hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of his blade, knocking Kai unconscious.  
"That... was a great fight friend..." Kage whispered to himself.

"And the winner is... Kage!" The announcer said with enthusiasm, eliciting a loud cheer from the audience. "And what a win it was... this fight will go down as a friend versus friend, and will live on in our hearts..."

---

Rynna hit the ground hard, rolling quite a distance on her side. The assassins merely looked on, much too afraid to approach with Sakurai's three remaining dragoons landing near her, and the opposing assassins believing that Sakurai preferred to have performed the kill himself. He was up now, marching towards Rynna, whilst the three dragoons simply stood around her.

"...Agh... ah..." Rynna struggled to stand, but couldn't manage anymore than to push herself onto her hands and knees. Sakurai delivered a powerful kick to her stomach as soon as he arrived, and she fell with a strained yelp to the ground, gasping for air.  
"...Hahaha... oh, how the mighty have fallen..." Sakurai chuckled, drawing out his lance. Rynna opened her eyes, quickly snatched up her Brillante, and batted aside his thrust, which hit the sand next to her head. "A strong will to survive eh...? Amusing. Very well... I won't kill you... yet." Sakurai snapped his fingers. One of the three dragoons dragged her to a weak half-stand, and another powerfully backhanded her across the face with his gauntlet. The other came next, smiling devilishly, and he drew his steel boot into the air, slamming it downward in a heeldrop against her head. Rynna fell to her knees, face buried in the sand. The one who picked her up before, raised her from the ground again, this time clasping a fistful of hair and pulling her head back.

"...Ah... hah..." Rynna heaved sharp breaths, stopping for a moment to cough up a smatter of blood onto the desert sands. Sakurai grinned as she opened her eyes, staring at him with hatred.

"Hahaha... already kneeling before your master... how fitting." Sakurai laughed. He came to a kneel as well, took hold of her dazed head, and forcibly pulled her mouth to his, kissing her fiercely. Her eyes opened widely in surprise, and she wrenched away, spitting blood, coughing, and gasping for air. Sakurai licked his lips. "A shame our skirmish has marred your beauty... I would've enjoyed that sweet taste even more..."  
"You...!" Rynna growled with a start, two of the dragoons holding her back by her arms. The third bash her across the back of the head with his lance, knocking her unconscious. He proceeded to sling her lifeless body on his shoulder.

"...Come Valius, Myrias, Jagan... our job is done here." Sakurai let out, turning to address the cluster of assassins, those of which served him began to withdraw. "Hear me Swordsmaster Takeda... stand in my way once more, and I'll deliver you from existence. Do not forget what happened to your saviour today... for if you cross me..."

Sakurai boomed before turning around and remounting his wyvern, which obediently landed at his side. "You shall meet an even worse fate."

---

Kurisu began to scout the land for Varlen. He decided that checking his hometown would be easiest. He returned to Iuria, where he guessed he may be. It only took a few hours for him to reach Iuria as he was alone and could move quickly.

"Hmm, where to start? I don't know where he lived in Iuria before becoming a mercenary, if he still has a house." He told himself. "Well, maybe the Marquis will have information on him…" He reached the castle, and asked to be admitted. Due to his time as a Royal Guard to Marquis Akaseki, he was known to the guards, and he was allowed straight in. He entered and climbed the castle's stairs, finally reaching the Marquis' study. He entered, and Asura was clearly surprised to see him.

"Kurisu! What are you doing here...? Is Reishi okay?" He asked anxiously.  
"He's fine. I am here to ask about the whereabouts of a member of your mercenary group." Kurisu replied.  
"Varlen? Oh, he's back in the Iurian army's Wyvern Knight Division... I take it its serious... I'll take you to see him." Asura said. They walked to the area where they believed Varlen to be. It was one of the nicer areas of the city, where the Iurian soldiers often tried to get houses.

Having asked around, it wasn't long until they found Varlen. He was training against another soldier, surprisingly on foot, like the last time any of the group had seen him fight.

"Marquis Asura. What brings you here?" he asked.  
"Well, it's this man who wants to see you. Kurisu?" Reishi said.  
"Varlen, I'm friends with Kai, who was in your group before the tournament in Kilina. Just to make sure, are you okay with the Mars' Severity? We can't have it fall into the wrong hands. Are you sure you don't want to stay with myself or another member of the fight against Kezuro?" Kurisu asked.  
"I'm fine. I'm one of the leaders of the wyvern knights here, after all. The weapon only accepts me anyway." Varlen assured him.  
"I'm not so sure after what I've seen, but if you're confident, that's fine." Kurisu sighed. "Thankyou for your time. I'll get back to the others now."

As he walked away, he explained to Asura his fears.  
"Considering that the others have seen a spell be used on a warrior to allow them to use any weapon, including the artefacts, and I believe he saw it too, I fear he is far too arrogant for his own good." he said.  
"That may be true, but he is strong. He'll be fine. I'll watch over him, Kurisu. Thanks for coming to check up on him." Asura replied. "Well, goodbye Kurisu, and good luck..."

Under Reishi's orders to find information about Kezuro and having found the truth, he knew his next task - to tell Reishi what he had discovered about Kezuro's plot. He began to make his way west to Akaseki.

---

"And now, as the number of opponents dwindles, the intensity of the matches rises to unbelievable heights! And now, the second semi-final…Kyari versus Blade!"

The audience roared as Blade and Kyari appeared, meeting in the middle of the arena. They shook hands, grinning at each other.  
"May the best man win," Blade smirked.  
"The best woman," Kyari corrected.

The two broke apart, putting about 30 yards between them. The crowd was antsy with anticipation, waiting in silence. After a few moments of silence…"GO!"  
Kyari and Blade rushed each other with ferocious intensity, disappearing momentarily from the crowd's sight, and reappearing exactly in the middle, as a burst of energy radiated outward, Jupiter's Wrath pushing against Styx. After a second, both jumped backwards, resetting. But Kyari whipped out her bow, loading two arrows and launching them at Blade.

Blade, surprised, barely bringing out Lethe to swat them away, but Kyari rushed him as soon as she had fired, and thrust Jupiter's Wrath at Blade, who just barely twisted out of the way, sliding Styx along Kyari's weapon to knock it a few inches to the side. Kyari kept her forward momentum even though she missed, driving a knee into Blade's stomach, doubling him over. She spun around, swinging the Jupiter's Wrath in a tight arc at Blade, who jumped away.

"Distance won't help you," Kyari taunted, releasing another flurry of arrows. But this time, Blade was prepared; he dashed forward, slicing through the arrows with both swords, then at Kyari, still holding her bow. With no other option, she turned her bow and caught both weapons with it. Luckily, the bow held, allowing her a kick to Blade's stomach, pushing him back. Blade charged again, but Kyari drew her Jupiter's Wrath back out and matched Blade. She played defensively for a few swings, blocking, before finally anticipating an attack, which she sidestepped and then countered, and Blade spun away…but a bit too slowly. His side was torn apart, crimson liquid flowing profusely. He took a knee, bringing his arm to his side, concentrating, willing the pain to cease, as more and more blood gushed from the wound. He glared at Kyari, and then renewed his resolve, ignoring the searing pain in his side and rising.

"This ends here," Blade said confidently.  
"Bring it."  
Blade dashed at Kyari, and then, vanished. She looked around wildly, spinning around, searching for a hint. A blur of a shadow flew across the ground, then behind Kyari, and then Kyari fell to a knee, gripping her stomach. Blood seeped out between her fingers, and Blade reappeared, where he was before he disappeared, grimacing. He dropped to a knee again, coughing up a few drops of blood. Blood had accumulated in a pool near Blade's side as well, and the intense battle was taking its toll on Blade. However, he managed a wicked grin.

"Had enough?" Blade's answer was Kyari rising yet again. With a sigh, Blade returned to his stance, and then dashed forward, disappearing inches in front of Kyari. She stood still, concentrating, waiting. A few seconds of tense silence…and then she turned around, firing a single arrow. The arrow stops in midair, and Blade reappears, still dashing forward, slashing across Kyari's body with both of his weapons. The two fell in a heap on top of each other, rolling off each other and laying on their backs, an arrow sticking out of Blade's previous sword wound. Both were silent.

The referee walked up to the pair, checking both out. "Both fighters appear unab-" The ref was cut off by something grabbing his leg. It was Blade. He pulled himself up to his knee, ripping out the arrow. He barely managed a nod at the astonished ref.

"Blade moves on to the next round!"

The crowd, hushed for the entire fight, erupted in cheers again, as medics pulled Kyari onto a stretcher, and Blade hobbled away, refusing help, grateful that he'd have time to rest before his next fight.

* * *

_WOAMG?_


	7. The Flight of a Rogue

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own the fire emblem series or in anyway present that I do. But I do own rights over all original Characters presented thus far._

_**Author's Note: **Kage action... you know thats what you were waiting for._

_

* * *

_

**The Artefacts of the Ancients**

**Chapter 07:****  
**

**The Flight of A Rogue_

* * *

_**

Several hours after the fight, Kai woke up in the medical wing of the arena. White bandages covered the majority of his body and some were dotted with blood. "Mmm...I must've been hit pretty hard..." he said, rubbing the back of his skull. As his eyes began to focus, he saw Kyari lying on a bed across from him. "Hey...don't I know you?" he said jokingly although he was not quite sure if he did or not.

"I think so..." Kyari said, sitting up slowly. "I thought so. Who did you in?" Kai asked, laughing weakly. "Kage?" Kyari shook her head. "Blade. It was a close match though." she sighed. "Anyhow, I need to get to Ercia. My wounds will heal themselves." she said, standing up. "Take is easy." Kai advised, handing her a small vial filled with red liquid. "And drink that. It'll do you good."

Kyari hesitated on taking a strange liquid from a rogue such as Kai, but decided he could be trusted to a degree. "My thanks." she said after taking the vial. Kai nodded and began to remove a few bandages. "What are you doing?" Kyari queried. The rogue answered as he removed the last of his bandages. "I'm leaving. I wouldn't stay in this place a moment longer." he said bluntly. Kyari looked at him for a moment, wondering why he would risk further injury just to escape a few more days in therapy.

Once all of his bandages were removed, Kai strapped on his weapon and opened a nearby window. Kyari moved to stop him but it was too late. Before she could realize it, Kai had jumped out of the window and landed on the ground. The shock from the landing caused a wound on his shin to ooze blood again. Kyari looked out the window and called to him. "You could've just used the front door..."

She was answered with Kai's incoherent mumbling from below.

---

It was finally the last round of the tournament. Blade and Kage were to fight for the tournament's prize: 50000 Gold, enough to buy almost any of the boats in the Kilina docks.

"Looks like you're my opponent in the final match." Kage said enthusiastically.  
"Don't get too excited, this fight will be over before the announcer says begin." Blade replied.  
"What's the matter with you?" Kage questioned.  
"You got here by luck... and you will need more than that to beat me." Blade answered.  
"You don't have to be so rude..." Kage whined.  
"Look. I won't respect you, and I never will because you're just a common thief." Blade stated coolly.  
"Let's just get this over with..." Kage ended their conversation, walking away to the other entrance.  
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment you have all been waiting for... the final match between Blade and Kage. It is obvious Blade is the crowd favourite here, and the one most bets are on, but can Kage pull through in the end?" the announcer finished up his pre-match address. "First to enter the ring is... Blade!" The announcer called out, as the audience began to cheer. "And his opponent... Kage!" the announcer yelled out, just like he called out Blade's name. The cheers weren't as loud for Kage, but it was easily noticed that he was set out to prove a point. "Now that both fighters are in the ring we can start this thing off..." the announcer paused right before yelling 'begin'. At the start of the match, Blade dashed forward towards Kage, swinging the Styx over his head. Kage blocked with the Umbra, but the force of the blow knocked him back a bit.

"Don't even try." Blade called out, laughing at Kage who was regaining balance from the blow. Blade charged forward again, this time swinging the Lethe at Kage, who blocked, but received a slash to the stomach by the Styx. Kage leaned forward from the wound, then lost his balance and fell to a knee.

"So Blade, this match is going just like you wanted... but I need to tell you something. The crowd loves it when a fighter comes back from certain defeat... Haha." Kage laughed, standing back up. This time, Kage took the initiative, jumping into the air and coming down in a stylish flip, about ten meters from Blade. "Okay, let's do this!" Kage yelled, while dashing at Blade. Kage slashed the Umbra downwards only to be caught by both the Lethe and Styx in a cross motion.

At this, Kage pushed all his weight onto the dagger, lifting his feet off the ground and kicking Blade in the stomach with both feet. Blade fell to a knee, and Kage dashed forward once again. This time, Blade was ready though. He swung the Styx up; cutting a fine mark across Kage's face that would be a reminder of this fight forever. Blade regained control in the battle, slashing at Kage in all different directions. Kage barely managing to block these blows, being steadily pushed back.

"Well Blade, you will have to forgive me for what I'm about to do next, as you might be hurt for awhile." Kage smirked, wiping the blood from the wound on his cheek. Just as he did this, Kage dashed towards Blade so fast, it was as though he disappeared from the fight in general. Kage, transforming into a mist-like version of his former self, appeared behind Blade, as he came back into his normal form, he stabbed the Umbra behind him straight into Blades back. Kage twisted the dagger to make sure it wouldn't come out easily, and he rolled forward, pulling Blade with him. As Blade was above Kage, he kicked Blade upwards into the air, a performed a quick flip to land back on his feet. After this, he crouched, and jumped upwards, following the now airborne Blade, and Kage dragged the Umbra along his side, cutting deeply but not bad enough for it not to be healed. After Kage passed Blade, he did a flip in the air, catching Blade in the stomach with his shoulder, and driving him into the ground.

After impact, Kage landed solidly on his feet. Blade began to move slowly, and got back up to his feet. "How can you still stand Blade?" Kage questioned, this being the most powerful technique he could do. But, as he looked across at Blade he noticed something. Blade was only able to stand because he was so determined to win. Blade dashed at Kage driving the Styx's hilt into Kage's stomach. As Kage bent over from the blow, Blade brought down the Lethe to the back of Kage's neck. However, Blade had stopped, unconscious from blood loss. The Lethe only left a scratch of what it was going to do, and Kage fell forward too, but was able to come to a kneel.

"And there you have it! A fight to stay in the memory for a lifetime! The new champion of our arena is... Kage Hakaisha!" the announcer shouted. "I think we should get the medics down there also..." the announcer let out, and just as soon as he had said it, two clerics ran in to carry Blade out of the ring. But as the medics got to him, he hopped to his feet and pushed them away, walking out of the arena. The crowd cheered for Kage and Blade, as this was one of the best matches in the arena's history. Kage walked into the back after the crowd was done cheering. He walked over to Blade.

"We don't get the money for about another hour, so we're supposed to rest up."  
"I guess I underestimated you." Blade said suddenly, which shocked Kage.  
"...Uh... don't worry about it. I think the only reason I won was because of the wounds you suffered from the last match." Kage explained.  
"I don't blame anything on former wounds... that was a great match and you deserved the win." Blade said modestly, laying down on a bed that was placed in the back for anyone to rest.  
"Well, there is something I want to ask you..." Kage said without pause, "Would you be interested in coming with me to find Rynna? I heard she was headed to Miran, and if she is, I will need your help with something else there."  
"You'll have to wait until after we get the prize money... then I will tell you."

---

As Kai limped into a darkened alley, a voice spoke to him. "You there, Kaitou Ra'keth. I have business with you." it said. The rogue looked around and could see nothing. "Show yourself and then we'll talk." Kai demanded. "As you wish." the voice replied. A moment later a black-clad ninja landed in front of Kai.

Relatively unimpressed by the theatrics, Kai got right to the point. "What business do you have with me?" he queried. "The Marquis of Akaseki wishes to meet with you. However, you must evolve. No longer shall you be a common thief." the ninja stated plainly. Apparently he didn't think the words 'common thief' were offensive to rogues. Kai simply shrugged off the remark. "What am I supposed to become then?" he asked. His tone sounded mildly interested. "You will become a master of shadows and stealth. For now, I will give you a simple task. Throughout your journey I shall watch your progress. Once you have mastered a skill, I will give you another until your training is complete."

The offer intrigued Kai. "Alright...what do I do first?" he asked. The ninja smiled and extended a hand. "Upgrading your weapons will be necessary. Give me your old blade and receive its superior." he demanded. "Sorry, no. This blade is a keepsake of my bloodline. I would be a fool to part with it." Kai smiled, patting his trust katana. The ninja hesitated a moment and produced several shurikens from his belt, handing them to the rogue. "Very well then. Train with these and become expert with them. They will serve you well."

Kai nodded and slipped the shurikens into a pouch at his belt. When he looked up, the ninja was gone. "Train with projectile weapons... well, it couldn't hurt." Kai concluded and went off to practice.

---

The time came for the closing ceremony of the tournament, and Arashi, Kyari, Blade and Kage sat in a special area for the competitors and their companions. Marquis Kilina was to award Kage with the reward of a gold medal and 50000 coins, enough to buy their own boat. Blade as runner up would receive a silver medal, and Kyari as third place would receive a bronze medal, since after Kai's disappearance, a third-place play-off was no longer necessary.

"Well, thank you all for coming to watch Kage Hakaisha receive the winner's prize as victor of this tournament at Kilina's Battle Arena!" Afiro, the Marquis of Kilina boomed. This was the first time the competitors of the tournament had ever seen him, as they were fighting when he gave them the quest that they now knew to be a plan from Kezuro to get Asura to leave the group. He was a tall, muscular man, with a huge axe strapped to his back. It was evident that he had been, or still was, a pirate by class.

"Kage! Come and accept your-"  
Afiro's speech was halted by the appearance of a familiar face. Vireo had warped in front of Kage, blocking his path as he walked to receive the money.

"Return the Jupiter's Wrath to my master!" he moaned. However, Afiro pulled the axe strapped to his back out and slammed it into Vireo's back, killing him in one strike. He fell to the ground, and Afiro took Vireo's Mercury's Revenge weapon. It glowed in his hands.

"It is mine! Hahaha!" Afiro said, walking away, "Take the money and the medals, it's all your group's. It is not my concern any more. So, the forbidden magic works…"

This shocked the group, who felt that trying to stop him would be useless. If they couldn't yet beat Vireo, and Afiro killed him in one hit, how strong must he be? Kyari, however, followed a short distance behind him, while the others took the medals and money and left hurriedly. Now it was definite that Afiro was in on Kezuro's plan.

"I'm going to go and get Rynna," Kage said, "The rest of you do as you want, I'll find you."  
"No way, you're not going alone. I still don't fully trust you, thief." Blade spat.  
"Fine, we'll go and get Rynna." Kage and Blade began to leave for Miran as the others got their possessions from the inn and began to look for the finest boat they could afford at the docks.

With 60000 gold to spend, and a trip of 3 days by boat ahead of them to get to Shima, where the final weapon laid, they decided to get one that would have the most space and most comfort. They also required a captain, but Arashi said she knew how to handle that, so she left to search the city, asking around for any boats that would accommodate at least 7 people, if not more, for sale.

---

Rynna stirred awake, head throbbing with every beat of her heart. She took something around five minutes to sit herself against one of the walls of the room before perceiving her surroundings. She was in some sort of cell in the old Halcyon Clan's former dominion, and, thankfully, knew exactly how to get out.  
"...Haha... some saviour I am..." Rynna laughed to herself lightly, rubbing the thick bruise on her cheek. Thankfully, that was only one of the few battle scars she had received in the last battle. With her tongue, she could feel a small cut on her bottom lip, and with nothing at all, could feel the bump on the back of her head.

"Are you awake Swordsmistress?" a voice questioned softly. Rynna looked up and spotted an assassin opening the locked door for her. He approached her and Rynna didn't move. "Your battle was very impressive Swordsmistress. Can you stand?" he took her arm, but Rynna refused to put any effort into pulling herself up.  
"...I lost. It wasn't impressive at all." Rynna stated simply, her throat somewhat hoarse. The assassin immediately took out a canteen, unscrewed the cap, and Rynna proceeded to drink.

"On the contrary Swordsmistress, you fared much better than Swordsmaster Takeda did. They believe that since you are alive, we still have a chance." the assassin muttered. Rynna came to a stand on her own strength, and the assassin handed her sheathed weapon to her. She promptly strapped the sheath horizontally across her back, level with the band around her waist, hilt of the rapier at her left.  
"Why are you helping me anyway? I can't really seem to understand the situation..." Rynna interrogated.

"...Well... these aren't two factions of assassins warring against each other. We simply split into two groups, the loyalist group, led by Swordsmaster Takeda, and the ones who are too afraid to act against Sakurai simply stay here to do his bidding. We all want to get rid of him, except for maybe the new recruits who have no idea that a Swordsmaster is a position of high regard, as Sakurai treats you and Swordsmaster Takeda both as criminals." the man explained.  
"I see." Rynna started for the door. The assassin stood there, watching her leave.  
"...Good luck Swordsmistress."

Soon after, Rynna was eating.

"Well then, it seems you all have forgotten to thank me..." Rynna heard from the table. The table of the main hall was adorned with a large feast, of which only Sakurai and the three remaining soldiers took part.  
"Shut your mouth Jagan. You wouldn't have struck that blow with your axe had I not dismounted her first with my lance." one of them said, Rynna recalling the lancer's name as Myrias, which, by process of elimination, left the one with the huge zweihander to be Valius.

"Hmph. You both forget that, had it not been for my plan to stay in one group, she would've certainly overpowered us all." Valius explained, clearly knowing that Rynna had an advantage over all of them when it came to one-on-one combat.  
"And you all forget... "Rynna began, drawing their attention, leaning with her back against the side of the doorway, a roasted drumstick of meat in her hand."...That none of you belong here." They all rose to their feet, even Sakurai. "Now, it isn't polite to leave a meal before a lady is done eating. Although, I realize that wherever you came from, they didn't teach you manners." They merely glared at her, perplexed with anger. She smiled and took a bite from the chunk of meat, which she had expertly snatched from the table, unnoticed by all four. "Oh, by the way, I should mention, it's impolite to stare."

"GRAAH!" Valius let out in rage, running at her with a zweihander in hand and sweeping powerfully at her with the heavy weapon. Rynna ducked under the blow into a sweep kick, tripping him onto his back, forcing him to let the giant sword hit the ground spinning, and she quickly drew the tip of the Brillante to his throat.

"...Trying to attack me while I'm eating? Jeez, you guys fight dirty..." Rynna said with a smirk. She took another bite. "By the way, this is a little bland. You might want to consider seasoning next time."  
"...You dare come into my domain after your humiliating defeat and mock me?" Sakurai questioned, brandishing his weapons. The other two dragoons did the same.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken." Rynna let out, taking one last bite of the food she had taken from the table and casting it aside into the pile of bones they had made on the floor. The moonlight from above illuminated the room with a pale coat of blue, Rynna's hazel eyes glistening with resolution. "...You're in my world now."

---

Blade and Kage separated from the rest of the group in search of Rynna. After they were out of the town, Kage tried to initiate conversation.  
"So Blade, why did you decide to come with me?" Kage questioned with a spark of interest.  
"To tell you the truth, in town, all we will do is look for a boat, but if I know Rynna or you, this way we will get some action." Blade's eyes lighting up with the glee of a child.  
"Were you neglected as a child?" Kage asked jokingly.

"Shut up and don't talk about my childhood... would you like if I asked you about yours?" Blade retorted back.  
"Actually, I might as well fill you in, because we are bound to have problems..." Kage got out before he started to explain. "Okay, my father, Shion, the leader of the Rogues' Guild of Miran wanted me to take his place. Now, this is the biggest honour to most rogues, but to me it was a stupid idea. I mean look at me... does it look like I could command people? Well, I have a knack for it, but it's more or less the fact that I just didn't want to live off my father's fame." Kage stopped to take a breath.

"Anyway, I left my home and my father on bad terms... let me explain. There is this blade there called the Luna, and its twin brother, the Umbra, which I have here. Let's just put it this way... I'm not supposed to have the Umbra or the Luna. I stole this one from my father and I wish to take the other also. But the problem is that if I take the other, I must be the leader of the guild. Now, this isn't going to be bad, cause it will make travelling all that easier, as our Rogues Guild has groups everywhere, where I can get free information and such, but only if I am the leader." Kage stopped to think for a second, "Damn, I'm getting off topic. Now, the problem is that I'm not liked there. My father will only talk to me if I can get the Luna from him. The reason is because I made him look bad by stealing one but for some reason he will gain his respect back for me if I get the other... I think." The two were still walking, but now, Kage was dragging his feet. "I have one question for you Blade..."

"Oh, what, I'm allowed to talk now?" he said sarcastically. "Okay, what's the question?"  
"Well, when we get there, it will be likely that we will be fighting a lot of rogues... I want you to not kill any of the rogues, just knock them out at the most... and leave my father to me." Kage looked to Blade, hopeful that he would understand.  
"Okay then, let's do this... but first, we have to find Rynna." Just as Blade got this out an assassin jumped out from behind a rock in the scenery.  
"You know Swordsmistress Ichiko?" the man questioned. Kage and Blade looked at each other for a moment, blinking. "Well, if so, I think you need to come meet someone."

"Swordsmistress Ichiko?" Blade repeated, smirking slightly. "If that's what you call her…what's your business with her?"  
"I saw her get captured, and I've been looking for a way to help rescue her…looking around town for help, and as I was passing, I heard you two mention her name.  
"Captured?" Kage asked. "What happened?"  
"I'm not sure of the details, but I saw the swordsmistress dragged off into a well-guarded castle…I can show you the way, but I can't take you in, too dangerous."

Blade and Kage agreed, and followed the unnamed assassin on a short journey to a fortress. "This is as far as I go," he told them. "Good luck…and please, rescue Miss Ichiko. I don't…want to see her hurt." With that, the assassin vanished into the air; a wisp of smoke was all that remained.

"Ready?" Blade asked. With a nod, Kage stepped into the shadows, nearly disappearing. Blade simply crouched down, before dashing into the building, moving at such a speed that no guard noticed anything but a small breeze. More slowly but safely, Kage sneaked through, following a mostly linear path deep into the middle of the fortress. A loud crash told the two that they were heading the right way. Soon, they came upon something of a mess hall, with Rynna standing on a table, daggers drawn and fighting, slowly getting pushed back, step by step, defending blow after blow. Blade got there first, still dashing at full speed, slicing across the stomach of one enemy, who pulled back, started at the appearance of a new foe. Then Kage came, appearing from the darkness and thrusting his weapon into the back of another foe, who jumped away. Now, it was more of a fair fight, but not for long. Already, reinforcements were coming…

* * *

_And alas... The story moves on._


End file.
